Deus Ex Machina
by A. Kline
Summary: Rachel Berry always knew that she was a little bit psychic. In fact, Rachel Berry thought she knew just about everything. That is, until a spirit that refused to die entered her life like a train-wreck.
1. One

Deus Ex Machina [god in the machine]

* * *

><p>Did you know that when you google Lima, Ohio, one of the first things that pop up are the obituaries? Rachel Berry sat at her laptop, thinking about what a perfect song that would make. Callous and perturbing, sure, but that's why it would be a new-age country song. She glanced at the assignment sheet that she had set on her desk two hours prior. "You're mocking me," she stated, glaring at the piece of paper. "An assignment on the <em>exciting<em> history of Lima, Ohio. Nothing interesting has ever happened here," Rachel mumbled, scrolling past the obituaries on Google down to the weather.

She paused, brushing her bangs out of her eyes as she willed herself to not scroll back up. She lasted five seconds before she bit her lip and caved, clicking on the link to the obituaries. She briefly scrolled through the recent ones, furrowing her brows in sympathy but feeling nothing beyond that. She didn't know these people, any of them; granted, she never knew the girl she was about to search for, either. She clicked the search box and her fingers flew over the keys. Sitting back, she eyed the simple date on the screen: 2000. She thought back on the 2,000 times she'd been in this same position, her finger hovering over the 'Enter' button, daring herself to push it. But just like every other time, Rachel closed her eyes tightly as she pushed the back button, returning to Google. She shook her head clear of those jumbled memories as she silently reminded herself that there were more important things to be done.

An hour and two typed out pages later, Rachel took a minute to stretch her arms over her head. She held them there as she relished the feel of her muscles relaxing. She was, in fact, still in that pose when the power went out. She blinked once. Then twice, just to make sure she was correct in assessing what had just happened. She reached over and flipped open her cell phone, shining a light on the due date on her assignment sheet. Her wide eyes moved from the paper to her blank computer screen, then back to the paper. "Due tomorrow," she declared, breaking the silence, "and I forgot to save it." And thus began Rachel Berry's junior year of high school.

* * *

><p>Rachel Berry tore out of the choir room with the force of a tornado. The slap of her flats echoed loudly around her as she marched down the empty hallways of McKinley High. Rachel's eyes were brimming with tears that she refused to let fall. Not until she was in the safety of the girl's restroom, at least.<p>

Once Rachel felt the cool porcelain of the sink under her fingers, her reflection blurred as her tears began to cloud her vision. It had been the first week back to school and the third glee rehearsal that week. It had all been going so well up until that one solo; until the club, her "friends", had backed her into a corner, yet again. The first solo of the year, and Rachel had wanted it. But no sooner had the words left her mouth, the insults were being thrown.

Rachel glared into her own eyes, mentally chastising herself for being weak, stupid, and for thinking that anything would change after Regionals. The glee club was always united, one entity, until it came to her. It didn't matter how hard she tried, Rachel Berry was always left standing in the cold. None of the other eleven members had come to her rescue this time, not even Finn Hudson.

She wiped her face with the back of her hand as her tears started to slow down. She stole a glance at herself in the mirror and choked back another sob - she was a mess -as she simultaneously heard a noise behind her. Whirling around, Rachel clutched at the sink behind her back, trying to clear her vision enough to see through her tears. "Is somebody else in here?" she called out, her voice cracking.

Silence. Her eyes traveled along the stall doors as she waited for more signs of movement. Hearing nothing, Rachel turned back to the mirror and inhaled slowly. "Rachel Berry does not run," she repeated to herself a few times, like a mantra. She waved a hand under the faucet and cupped her hands as the cool water rushed out. She closed her eyes and splashed the water onto her face repeatedly in an attempt to wash away the tear streaks.

She met her own dark eyes in the mirror again and forced a smile. "When you're smiling, when you're smiling, the whole world smiles with you," she sang quietly, grabbing for a paper towel to wipe off her face with. The paper clung to her face as she dabbed at her closed eyes.

She felt the rush of wind from the stall door slamming shut before she heard it. Her suspicions were confirmed; she was, in fact, not alone. "I asked you once before and now I expect the truth, stranger. I know that someone else is in here, so who are you?" She whirled around and immediately spotted the one stall that was closed at the end of the row. She slowly approached the closed door with her hand outstretched, her face still dripping from the remaining water.

"If you are here to slushy me then please just get it over with. I need to get back to glee and if I need to wash my face again…" she trailed off as her eyes cast downward, looking for the intruder's feet under the stall door. She saw nothing. Her breath hitched in her throat as her fear got the better of her.

She waited a couple more seconds for an answer before she decided to take urgent action. "Just come out, already!" she demanded impatiently, stamping her foot on the ground. She got her wish as the stall door flew open immediately, clubbing her in the side of the face and knocking her backwards. She hit the ground with a grunt as the air in her lungs escaped her.

Rachel raised her face as the tears fell, expecting to look into a Cheerio's eyes. Instead, she saw nothing. The door swung on its hinges as if a breeze had blown it open, and if Rachel had been less mentally stable, she would have believed that theory. However, she knew better.

"You are not my first, and will not be my last, paranormal experience, I'll have you know," she said through the sting of her face. "I'm not sure what I did to anger you, spirit, but I'm sorry for whatever it was." She stayed on the floor as her eyes traced the swinging motion of the stall door, until it suddenly stopped.

Rachel's breath caught again. "You heard me, didn't you, spirit? Is that what's wrong? You're angry? Who are you angry at?" Rachel gently goaded. She waited for a response, her fear quickly turning to fascination, and then excitement. Throughout her life, Rachel had been harboring a secret fascination with anything and everything paranormal (with the exclusion of aliens, because even Rachel Berry wasn't that crazy). She could even pinpoint the exact moment when she became fascinated with ghosts: October of 2000. Her mind began to wander back to that memory, and she had to shake her head forcefully and feel the sting of her bruised face to bring herself back to reality. Her ghost had gone quiet.

"Maybe I was imagining things," Rachel began slowly, bringing her hand to her now swollen face, "and maybe it was just a rush of wind."

A beat of silence followed her sentence before the toilets whirred to life. All of them. At once. Rachel's head snapped back up at the sound as a smile crossed her features. "All right, so you do exist. I've never heard of McKinley being haunted before. Especially by a poltergeist." The toilets stopped going off and Rachel frowned. "Not a poltergeist? I'm sorry for assuming. Are you just an intelligent being, then? I watch Ghost Hunters every Wednesday night with my fathers, so I know a great deal about intelligent beings." By this point, Rachel had pushed herself up to a sitting position on the linoleum of the restroom as she faced the stall door that had beamed her in the face.

"You're not gone, are you?" Rachel questioned from the floor as she searched the surrounding area for any more peculiar movements. After a few minutes, she sighed as she stood up. "I'm sorry if I offended you in any way, spirit." She turned and faced the mirror, wincing at what she saw. Her face was red and swollen, but she didn't think it would bruise. She splashed cold water on her face again, just in case she had temporarily lost her mind and she needed to be snapped back to reality. With one final glance into the mirror, she turned and opened the restroom door.

Throwing her chestnut hair over her shoulder as she glanced back from the doorway, she called out, "My name is Rachel Berry, by the way. It was nice to meet you, spirit, and I really hope this won't be our last encounter." The door slammed shut behind her as she made her way back to glee. Each step took her mind further from the encounter and closer to how she was going to steal Kurt's solo. After all, Rachel Berry was rather used to paranormal experiences. Or so she thought.

* * *

><p>A week later, Quinn ghosted through the halls of McKinley High, an hour after school had gotten out. She much preferred walking around this time of the day because the entire school just seemed calmer. Her fingers hovered over the glass of the third Cheerio's trophy case she'd passed in her walk. This was her favorite case, though, because this one had her trophies, her name, and her legacy. She visited here at least once a day, and preferably, when no one else was in the hall to interrupt her thoughts.<p>

Her gaze followed the dozens of smaller trophies that paved the way to the oversized one, her Nationals trophy. She smiled to herself wistfully as she recalled how she'd almost single-handedly trained the entire squad her sophomore year, and how her coach had told her in private that their win was a result of that.

Quinn searched for her reflection in the glass of the case and frowned at what she saw. She huffed a sigh as she turned on her heel and made her way down the hall towards the girl's restroom. She hadn't tortured anyone in a week because of that damn Rachel Berry. She passed through the door and smiled as she saw a freshman girl applying her makeup by the sinks. Quinn snuck behind her as the girl closed her eyes while applying mascara.

Three minutes later, the girl finished her makeup and smiled at herself in the reflection. Quinn turned on the faucet full force and splashed the girl directly in her face, causing her makeup to run. The freshman girl shrieked as she covered her face and turned away from the faucet. "What the hell is wrong with you?" she yelled at no one in particular as she ran from the restroom. Quinn leaned against the sink, as she laughed, almost forgetting to shut off the water. She cast a quick gaze to the giant puddle on the floor from her prank and smiled, hoping that someone else would slip on it and fall.

She snapped her head to the left when she heard the restroom door slam open. Quinn groaned silently as Rachel Berry stormed through the doorway with fire in her eyes. Quinn cocked an eyebrow as she watched the shorter girl fist her hands on her hips and scan the room. Her brown eyes rested on Quinn, looking right through her. Rachel's eyes remained on Quinn for far longer than they should have, and Quinn actually heaved a sigh of relief when Rachel broke the stare and sighed.

"Are you in here?" the brunette questioned as she approached the sink that Quinn was leaning against. Quinn barely had enough time to move away from the sink before Rachel was leaning up against it, peering at herself in the mirror. "When I saw that girl bolt out of here, I just knew that it was your fault," she accused, turning from the mirror and glaring at the stall door that hit her in the face a week before.

Quinn slowly moved around Rachel in order to see the damage. Quinn frowned and ran a hand through her blond hair, "Damn, it didn't bruise."

Rachel screamed as she jumped backwards, slipping on the puddle in front of the sink and going down in front of it. "Who said that?"

Quinn froze with her hand still in her hair, her eyes and mouth both wide open in shock. She stared down at the girl on the floor who was rubbing her arm. "Was… was that you, spirit?" Rachel hesitantly asked.

Quinn still stood frozen. Had this Rachel girl heard her? How was that even possible? Part of Quinn wanted to run from the restroom as fast as possible and hide, but another part of her - a lonelier part - wanted to see if someone had actually heard her. "You can hear me?" Quinn whispered.

Rachel's head snapped up and Quinn watched her attempt to place where the voice had come from. "I can," Rachel said in disbelief, "I can hear you." Rachel fumbled her hand behind her, trying to find purchase on the sink before pulling herself up onto shaking feet.

Quinn could only watch her in shock. She hadn't had human contact in ten years, and for the first time, someone had heard her. Rachel's eyes wandered over her body, probably trying to figure out where exactly Quinn was standing. "Are you still here?" Rachel asked, hopefully. She threw a shaky smile Quinn's way, and Quinn knew she was scared. If Quinn hadn't been so terrified herself, she would have taken advantage of that fact.

She bit her lip and mentally argued with herself on whether or not she should speak back again. The more time she spent arguing with herself, the quicker Rachel's smile dropped. Quinn backed herself into the stall door as the sudden urge to introduce herself to Rachel overwhelmed her. Ten years without human contact had felt like an eternity of loneliness, and here she was, scared to death of actually holding a conversation with someone when she'd been given the chance. She opened her mouth and closed it, drawing in a breath.

Her eyes snapped back to Rachel when she heard the brunette's breathing start to increase. She watched with curious eyes as Rachel spun to face herself in the mirror and splash water over her face. "I did hear something," Quinn heard Rachel mumble to herself; "I heard it twice. Her, I heard her twice. I knew I wasn't losing my mind." Rachel smiled to herself lightly before turning back to face the restroom. "You see, spirit, after not hearing from you again for a week, I was beginning to think that I'd just simply lost my mind. Which wouldn't bode well for my future goals of stardom, so I had hoped that I'd have another encounter with you today, a less hostile one, that is…." Rachel finished, trailing off, running the tips of her fingers over her cheek.

Quinn continued to stare at Rachel with wide eyes, completely unprepared to handle this situation. She wasn't sure if Rachel sensed that or just had to go, but the girl perked up and began walking to the door. "I understand that you're either gone or too shaken up to speak to me. That's fine. I'd just like to say a couple things before I go."

Quinn quietly sighed, somehow knowing that she was in for a lecture. She snapped her mouth shut when Rachel's eyes moved to follow the direction of her sigh. "One is I appreciate that you made contact with me today. You helped me realize that I'm not losing my mind. Another is that if you need help, if you're stuck in the spirit realm or something, that I would do my best to help you move on. If that's what you want," Rachel added, shrugging. "And last, I am very disappointed in you for what you did to that freshman girl. For someone that isn't a poltergeist, you sure like to act like one." With that, Rachel turned and exited the restroom, _smiling_.

Quinn's mouth hung open in shock as she stared at the spot that Rachel was just standing in. See, Quinn had been dead for ten years - a ghost for just as long - and in that entire time she had never been spoken to (not from lack of her trying). And now this random girl (who seemed rather annoying and verbose, in Quinn's opinion) had come along and just _expected_ to be able to talk to Quinn and have her talk back like it was perfectly normal.

Quinn leaned her head back on the stall door and stared at the ceiling. She somehow knew that nothing about this Rachel girl was normal, and she probably hadn't seen the last of her. Quinn sighed as she realized that she might have a pretty big problem on her hands. Which she thought was ironic, because that girl was tiny.

* * *

><p>Rachel sat in her swivel desk chair; the toes of her pink ballet shoes lightly grazed the ground as she slowly spun herself in half circles. Her face was contorted in thought as she mulled over the happenings of the day. Her first encounter with the newly found "spirit" of McKinley High hadn't left as big of an impact on her as the second encounter had. She <em>had<em> heard a voice. She didn't imagine it, didn't mistake it for anyone else in the bathroom, she'd heard the spirit's voice; and said spirit was a girl.

Naturally, Rachel's interests had been peaked immediately at the chance of communicating with an intelligent spirit. It was rare that people had a legitimate encounter with anything paranormal in their lives, much less having two encounters with the same being.

However, it had taken Rachel until after her ballet lesson to realize the connection that she failed to make earlier. The epiphany had hit her as her father was driving her home that night. She passed a familiar intersection on the main thoroughfare of Lima as she was thinking of ways to get the spirit to make contact with her again, when her realization hit.

Her mind had shot back to that year, when she had merely been six and on her way home from her intermediate ballet class. She thought about that night at least once a month; at first thinking it was merely the affect of seeing a traumatic experience at a young age, but now doubting that idea. Maybe it meant more. Maybe it meant -

"Rachel!" her dad bellowed from the bottom of the stairs. The brunette snapped herself out of her thoughts and glanced down at herself. She had forgotten to change out of her ballet clothes when she had gotten home thirty minutes prior and instead opted to lose herself in her thoughts.

She furrowed her brow as she made her way to open her bedroom door. "What is it, dad?"

"Finn is here to see you, honey."

Rachel paused and glanced at the clock on her nightstand. She cringed as she realized she had forgotten her date with Finn. She gave herself a once over and sighed. Tonight was not the night for a crappy dinner at Bread Stix and awkward conversations that skirted the non-existent line between Broadway and football and the imperceptible flicker of potential there. However, that basically summed up Rachel and Finn's relationship, anyway, and Rachel was grateful for it. Finn may not have been the best boyfriend, but he had been her first friend ever, and when you're as lonely as Rachel is, you give a hell of a lot more than you get because it's all that you know how to do.

"Tell him that I'll be right down, dad. We have some of his favorite cookies in the pantry if he's interested," Rachel called through her door as she began tugging off her ballet flats.

She perched herself on the end of her bed as she rolled her pink tights down her legs and over her feet. She sighed as she stood up and tugged her tutu off her hips. She finally tugged off her black tank top and let her hair fall from its bun.

"What shall I wear for my date tonight?" Rachel asked herself as her bare feet padded across her room to her closet. She closed her eyes tightly and reached out to blindly pick a dress. She opened her eyes to look at the green material between her fingertips. "Green? Really? I'm not sure. Maybe I should wear brown to match his eyes…" she mused, scanning her impressively large dress collection.

She shuddered as a cool breeze ran over her bare shoulders, knocking two of her dresses off their hangers. She froze on the spot. "Spirit? Is that you?" Rachel looked down at the two yellow dresses on the floor. "Yellow? I wore one of those for one of my favorite glee performances you know, spirit."

Rachel bent over and picked up the two dresses before turning towards her room, where her window was open. Her mouth formed an 'oh' as she realized that the wind had come from the outside, not her spirit. She sighed as she dropped the dresses onto her bed. "I'm losing my mind. This has to stop."

Rachel chose the brightest yellow dress and tugged it over her head. She put the final touches on her makeup and smiled at her reflection in the mirror. "This will be a good date. You do love…" she paused. "Well, you really like Finn, at least. So put on your best smile and have a good Friday night," she said to her reflection. She felt another breeze roll over her shoulders. "Right after I shut the window."

* * *

><p>Quinn watched Rachel make her way over to her bedroom window from her spot on the bed. The brunette peered up at the window and grumbled. "I don't see why I was given the room with the vertically opening window. I cannot reach it."<p>

Quinn cocked her head as she watched Rachel inhale deeply before jumping up to reach the sash and slam the window shut. The brunette nodded in approval as she turned to her nightstand, grabbed her purse, and hastened out of her room to meet some Finn guy.

"Hmm," Quinn mused as she got up from her sitting position on the bed. She had followed Rachel from school to ballet, and from ballet to home that day. Not because she's creepy, she had clarified to herself as she sat next to the brunette in the back seat of her parent's car after school, but she just had to know what this girl was all about. What made her so different from everyone else; did she have spiritual powers? Was she a religious figure in disguise, sent to exorcise Quinn? These important questions clearly could only be answered by snooping around in Rachel's personal life.

"Some personal life," Quinn mumbled as she ghosted the back of her hand over the Broadway playbills adorning the lemon colored walls. _Wicked_,_ Chicago_, _West Side_ _Story_, the classics, Quinn thought with a small grin. She paused as she made a complete circle. _American Idiot. Rock of Ages. The Lion King. Mary Poppins. Stomp. The_ _Phantom of the Opera_ - Quinn turned to the mirror and mumbled, "Well that explains the mask over there. God, does she not have a life? Did she actually go to all of these shows?"

Her question hung in empty air as she turned towards the dresser, pausing as she almost walked through the bed. She made her way around and looked at the pictures on top of the dresser.

They were all in similar frames: black or gold, plain trim, nothing flashy and nothing too large. She recognized Rachel's fathers in one picture from seeing them earlier in the day. There were a few of Rachel, alone and with her dads. Quinn paused and hovered over one of Rachel smiling up at a goofy looking guy who seemed to be about a foot taller than the brunette was, maybe more. He had a crooked grin and a McKinley letterman jacket, and Quinn guessed that he was Rachel's idea of a fairytale prince. He had to be, it was way too cliché and corny: the school stud falling for the glee club girl? She shook her head and scoffed as she moved on to the next picture. Matters of the heart? Love? There was no such thing, and Quinn knew that for a fact.

She dug her hands into the pocket of her jeans as she stopped in front of the last picture. Quinn's brow furrowed as she gazed at the picture of this breathtaking woman. She was older, and posing in a field, under a large tree, with her arms encircling a dog's neck as her bare feet rested under her. Her hair was long and chestnut and it matched her eyes.

Quinn wondered aloud. "Is this her mom?" She paused as a minor detail caught her eye. She looked closer and read "Shineman's Frames" in golden script, just barely visible above the bottom edge of the frame, on the picture.

Quinn didn't know whether to laugh or feel sympathetic: this girl actually kept the picture that came in the frame when she bought it. Not only did she keep it, but she had it up in her room as if this woman was someone she knew; someone she loved enough to keep her picture up. The blonde chose to be sympathetic as she wondered what reason anyone would have for doing that. Quinn's eyes wandered back to the dozens of playbills and she realized she might have her answer.

The ghost thought she was beginning to get a sense of who Rachel really was, and it wasn't a happy picture. She snooped in drawers and found a total of twelve diaries, three Julliard brochures, one bulimia pamphlet, and a pile of school pictures from what Quinn guessed was last year; the small pictures, the ones you're supposed to hand out to friends. She left the drawer quickly as she realized how big that pile was, and how small it should have been if this girl had friends.

An hour had passed and Quinn took a seat on Rachel's desk chair. Her feet touched the floor with her knees bending, and she laughed as she remembered that Rachel's toes had just barely skimmed the floor. The girl really was short.

"There's nothing here that makes her out to be a threat…" Quinn stated, resting her hands behind her neck. She stood up to leave when she saw a pink notebook peaking out from the corner of Rachel's pillow. A blonde eyebrow shot up as her curiosity got the best of her. Quinn lucked out as she saw that the notebook was already open under the pillow, leaving her an easy opening after the hassle of moving the pillow. She fluttered through the pages enough to catch certain words.

Her hazel eyes iced over as she read words scrawled in cursive.** Ghost 101**. **Intelligent!** **Remedies? Ghost sicknesses? Possibility of exorcism to free souls?** **Disembodied voices…** Quinn's anger bubbled up inside of her as the notebook slammed shut and flew across the room.

Quinn heard a screech from behind her as she whirled around. Rachel stood in the doorway holding her purse in front of her face. Quinn clenched her fists as she realized she had almost hit Rachel with the notebook. _Almost_ wasn't good enough.

"What in the hell is that?" Quinn shouted, assuming Rachel could hear her. She assumed right.

Rachel stood frozen in the doorway as her purse dropped from her hand, making a thud on the floor. Her gaze flickered down to the notebook and back up to the side of her bed. "I… it's my notebook. It's all of my research…"

"Research?" Quinn echoed, "Who the hell are you? You're here to exorcise me aren't you? You finally came to get rid of me!"

Rachel's eyes widened, almost bugging out of her face, "Wait, are you my spirit? How did you know where I lived?"

Quinn's anger bubbled up to the point of extremity as the air in the room started to spark and crackle. The hairs on Rachel's neck and arms stood up as electricity shot through her fingertips. She fought the quakes that were assaulting her body. "No, please… if you'll just listen to me - I can explain everything if you'll just listen to -"

Quinn shook her head, almost forgetting that Rachel couldn't see her. "I don't need to listen to you. I knew there was a reason you could hear me when no one else ever could before. You're different because you're here to take me, to get rid of me. Well I'm not ready, and I'm not going. You can't fool me, Rachel Berry. Just stay the hell away from me!"

Rachel was shocked into silence as the static electricity left the air as if the room had just been drained of power. Chocolate eyes dropped to the open notebook on her floor again as her body erupted into shivers. "I was only trying to help you…" Rachel whispered.

But Quinn was long gone.

* * *

><p>Rachel marched down the halls of McKinley High during lunchtime on Monday. It was a rainy day and her mood since Friday night had matched the gloom outside.<p>

"Rachel!" She whirled around, flinching out of habit. "Hey, where are you going?"

She looked up at her boyfriend and smiled softly. "I was going to the library to do some more research for my science project," she said as she adopted a straight face.

Finn pouted and Rachel smiled. It was always comical to see a 6'3" tall guy pout like a three year old. "Again? You've gone in there during lunch every day for like a week. And what science class is this anyway? 'Cuz I talked to San and she said that Mrs. Orvelle hadn't actually assigned anything this-"

"Finn," Rachel began as she cut him off, "can you keep a secret?"

The boy ran a giant hand through his messy hair as he looked around the empty halls. "Yeah, course I can, Rach. What's up?"

Rachel took a deep breath and held her pink notebook tighter to her chest. She hadn't told Finn the truth about her "research project" for science. She hadn't had a science project at all; truth be told, she had just been spending hours pouring through the ghost books available in the McKinley library (which, surprisingly, there had been a lot of) and collecting data. "I haven't been working on a science project."

Finn's expression darkened and Rachel hastily added, "But I _have_ been in the library doing research."

"On what?" Finn questioned, now visibly confused.

"Ghosts."

There was a silence that extended long enough for Rachel to realize she was losing precious lunchtime minutes. "Like, dead people?"

"Like spirits, Finn," Rachel said in exasperation as she grabbed the boy's hand and began tugging him towards the library. "I've been doing research on the paranormal. Do you remember me telling you about how psychic I am?"

"Uh huh."

"Well, two weeks ago I encountered a ghost in the bathroom. And then a week after that, I encountered her again!"

"Her?"

"Yes, her, keep up, Finn. And then…" Rachel trailed off as a freshman boy walked by. She shot him a look until he was out of earshot before continuing in a whisper. "And then, do you remember when I went out with you Friday night? Well, I came home and the spirit was in my room! She threw this notebook at me and seemed incredibly mad at what I had written in it."

They paused at the door to the library as Finn reached forward and yanked the door open for her. "Okay… and how do you know that she's a she?"

Rachel made her way towards her regular table in the back as she whispered, "She spoke to me! She seemed just as surprised as I was that I could hear her."

They sat down and Rachel looked hard into Finn's eyes. "It's okay if you don't believe me, Finn. That's why I haven't told anyone. I'm not sure if I could believe me either, to be honest."

Finn appraised his girlfriend for a few minutes before he reached over and put his hand on her shoulder. "I believe you. Hell, you'd believe me, so why shouldn't I believe you?"

Rachel broke into a grin as she squeezed the hand on her shoulder. "Thank you, Finn. And now that you know… you can help me!"

"Help with what?" he asked, flipping open Rachel's notebook and widening his eyes at the words there. "I don't know how to perform an exorcism… I have the movie though if you wanna like, watch it…"

Rachel shook her head frantically, "No, no. See, that's the thing! She doesn't want to be exorcised! That's why she was so angry with me on Friday night - she got into my notebook and accused me of being some secret religious figure with a hidden agenda. She thought I was here to get rid of her, somehow. She seemed terrified at that prospect."

Finn looked up a few minutes later, eyebrows furrowed, as he lowered his voice, "Rachel, I'm not so sure that this is a good idea. You aren't supposed to mess with this kind of stuff, you know. What if you screw up her soul or something? Maybe you shouldn't be interfering…"

Rachel sat back and crossed her arms over her chest. "Judging by the way she sounded when she and I were talking, she doesn't communicate with living souls often. You know what that means?"

Finn shrugged with his eyebrows raised, clearly not buying any of what Rachel was saying.

"It means that there's a reason I was in the bathroom that day, and there's a reason that only I can hear her!"

Finn absent-mindedly thumbed through the notebook. "How do you know you're the only one?"

"She said that I was the only one who had ever heard her. Besides, have you ever heard her?"

Finn thought for a moment before shrugging, "No, I haven't. Good point."

Rachel bit her lip to hold back a smile as she stood up to grab her pile of books from the nonfiction section. It was far too easy to win in a battle of wits against Finn, seeing as how he always came unprepared. She returned with at least seven books, dropping them onto table in front of Finn, scaring the boy out of his daydream.

"Jesus, Rach. Have you already been through all of these?"

Rachel scrunched up her nose. "Language, Finn. I've only looked through certain parts of them. Can you help me take notes on anything that deals with intelligence, high schools, poltergeists, and disembodied voices?"

Finn nodded dumbly as he picked up a pencil and opened a book titled Ah! I Think My House Is Haunted! Rachel watched him for a moment before she silently decided she'd just go through that book again later.

* * *

><p>Later happened to be sooner than Rachel had planned. As the two had been pouring over books, the rain had been pouring outside, and an hour later the school was on temporary lockdown because the parking lot had flooded and the roads bad been closed off.<p>

Rachel sighed as she stretched herself into a lying position on the library floor. She had Finn's letterman jacket balled up under her head and a Nancy Drew book in her lap as the lights flickered.

"This is insane," Finn muttered, eyeing the locked doors. "They can't keep us here, can they? Can't we all just go into the gym?"

"The gymnasium is flooded, Finn, remember? Did you reach Santana?"

Finn nodded. After an announcement had been made that no one could find the Cheerios, Rachel had insisted Finn text Santana to make sure she and Brittany were okay.

"Yeah, she texted back. She said coach Sylvester had made them go outside until the firefighters got there and made them go back in. They're all in the cafeteria now."

Rachel laughed lightly as she shook her head. "I'm sure the rain will let up soon and they'll have the roads clear. I've been trying to reach Mr. Schue about scheduling a later glee practice but for some reason he won't answer my calls."

"Wonder why?" Finn mumbled, shooting Rachel a look while rolling his eyes.

* * *

><p>Quinn had been outside - watching a sophomore girl go chasing after her backpack after she had accidentally dropped it into the road (that now doubled as a river) - when she heard the announcement over the PA system. She rolled her eyes as she made her way through the sheet of rain back into the building to laugh at the kids that were now locked in. She paused when she saw the Cheerios jog outside in nothing but their uniforms. Quinn paused and shook her head in shock as she remembered how not crazy her coach had been when she had been on the squad. She thought about how hard those girls had it as they silently jogged past her.<p>

The teachers all had the students locked in the rooms that they had been in when the lockdown had been put in place, so most people were still in the cafeteria.

The blond spent half an hour wandering through the cafeteria and listening in on people's conversations before she began to crave silence again. Quinn made her way to the library thinking there wouldn't be many people in there because, seriously? Who hangs out in the library during lunch?

"Do you think that Mr. Schue would be up for a performance of Singin' in the Rain? I am aware that I'm no Gene Kelly, but I feel as if…" Rachel's voice trailed off into the background of Quinn's mind as the girl tuned her out.

"Of course," she breathed out as she walked in to see Rachel lying on the floor with her boyfriend's jacket under her head and said boyfriend sprawled out next to her. "I should've known."

Her frustration subsided momentarily when she saw the large stack of books between them, and a very familiar yellow book in Rachel's hand. Quinn's eyebrows shot up as she let out a laugh. "Nancy Drew? Seriously?"

Her mouth slammed shut as she saw Rachel perk up; looking over her book as if she'd heard a noise. Quinn remained silent as she made her way over to the happy couple in the corner. She sat down cross-legged next to Rachel and began scanning the titles of the books. Her fingers drifted over thick leather books and small pamphlets, each title etching her frown in deeper as she realized Rachel wasn't giving up this ghost thing. She made her hand into a little gun, pressed it against Rachel's head, and mouthed the word, "bang". Quinn stayed cross-legged as she decided to stay and listen in to their conversation, thinking she might figure out who Rachel is by seeing her with someone she trusts. Quinn cocked her head to the side as she eyed Rachel, remembering Friday night and how Rachel had seemed indecisive about Finn. She dropped her gaze back down to the pile of books and decided she trusted him enough to tell him her wacky ghost theories.

Speaking of Finn... Quinn tore her glare from Rachel and brought it down onto the boy. She inspected him carefully for a few minutes. Finn: Messy brown hair, letterman's jacket, sweet grin. The blond watched him read a sentence in whatever stupid ghost book he had now, and then throw Rachel an unnoticed, hesitant glance. Quinn laughed when she realized Finn probably thought Rachel was insane with all of this ghost crap. Eventually, Quinn brought her attention back to the pile of books that Rachel had out and scanned the titles again. Odd. She didn't have any on exorcism, Quinn realized with a smile, but she still wanted to know what the hell Rachel was up to and why she had so much interest in Quinn.

The ghost watched an unknowing Rachel read the first Nancy Drew as if she'd done it a hundred times before. A soft smile played over the brunette's features as she turned the page. Quinn's brows furrowed together as she took in the pink unicorn sweater Rachel had on with the matching pink barrette in her hair. Did this girl seriously threaten her? She didn't look like she could hurt a fly, much less be a legitimate threat to Quinn's spiritual existence.

"Rachel?"

"Hmm?" the brunette asked, not taking her eyes from the book.

"What if you got some professional to exorcise her? You know, you could help her spirit move on. Maybe get her up to Heaven or… wherever."

Quinn stood up fast enough that the top book of the pile fell over. Rachel arched an eyebrow at the fallen book but remained perfectly calm. "She doesn't want to be exorcised, I told you this. I'm not going to force her to pass on, that's not my choice to make."

Quinn stared hard at Rachel as she judged her truthfulness. The brunette's eyes lifted from the book on the floor, up to where Quinn was standing, and she smiled. Quinn's eyes snapped down to her own body. Could Rachel see her? Did she know that Quinn was standing right here?

"Tina, Mike! You guys snuck in here?"

Quinn sucked in a breath as two people walked through her, hand in hand, to stand in front of Rachel. She tuned out any conversation after that as her vision blurred with the sting of tears. Damn it. She _hated_ it when someone walked through her. She turned on her heel and stormed out of the library. She could acknowledge that having Rachel's stupid friends walk through her hurt; however, she would not acknowledge that thinking Rachel had seen her, then finding out she hadn't, had hurt worse. Why would she want to be seen, anyway? The goal was, and always has been, to stay as hidden as possible. Quinn suddenly decided that the constant patter of rain would soothe her better than any silence would as she slammed through the front doors of the school and back into the storm.


	2. Two

Deus Ex Machina [god in the machine]

* * *

><p>One month into school, and the storms in Lima had come to a halt. Rachel tugged up the front of her blue, polka-dot dress as she leaned against Finn's car after school. The football player came trudging up to her five minutes later, dragging his duffle bag in one hand and his helmet in the other.<p>

"Hey, Rach. Sorry, it took a little extra time 'cause Beiste didn't buy my rash story," he remarked as he unlocked his car and tossed his stuff inside.

Rachel smiled softly as she checked her cell phone. "It's okay, Finn. We still have a few hours until dark, anyway. Do you still have my special bag in your car?"

Finn nodded as he was bent over in his backseat. He pulled a pink floral duffle bag from the floorboard of his car and scanned the parking lot before handing it over to Rachel. "What do you have in there, anyway?"

"You will see, Finn. I don't want to open it here in plain sight. I know enough about our peers to know that they will not understand the genius of our plan; therefore, them finding out could jeopardize the plan itself!" Rachel clutched the duffle bag to her chest as she smiled brightly up at Finn. The taller boy nodded slowly as he grabbed his other duffle bag, closed, and locked his car doors.

"Okay, so…" he began, burying his hands in his pockets, "tell me the plan again?"

Rachel rolled her eyes as the pair began crossing the empty parking lot. "It is of utmost important that you pay attention this time, Finn. Plan G - G for ghost, of course - begins at precisely 7:47 P.M. tonight when the sun goes down. We will have set up all of the "equipment"," Rachel said, air quoting while patting her duffle bag, "in preparation. Then, we begin our investigation."

Finn paused at the top of the McKinley steps, laying his hand on Rachel's arm to stop her. "Are we sure about this? I looked it up online and like… it's illegal to camp out in a high school after it's closed. We could get in a lot of trouble."

Rachel bit her lip as she stared up at Finn. "I used Google as well, so I am aware of the consequences of our actions. If you're afraid of being caught then you don't have to come. You're the one who insisted on coming with me so I wouldn't be alone in the school at night."

Finn shifted his weight and took in a breath, fixing Rachel with a steady look. "I think this is absolutely crazy, but you're my girlfriend, so I'm coming with you. We just better not get caught or my mom's gonna kill me."

Rachel cocked her head to the side as she smiled. "We aren't going to get caught! My plan is foolproof." Rachel paused, looking up at her boyfriend and mulling over her words. "Yeah, no it's definitely foolproof. Now, come on. We have to get to the choir room."

* * *

><p>Rachel crept along the row of lockers, pressing herself as tightly to the cool metal as she could. This was her third sweep of the school, and her fourth time adjusting the black beanie that kept falling onto her forehead. In preparation for her plan, she had made sure to tell Finn to bring a set of black clothes to change into, just as she had. Rachel tugged on her black sweater as she felt her phone vibrate in her skirt pocket.<p>

She hastily answered. "Finn? Are all of the cameras up?" Rachel pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it questionably before talking into it again. "Finn? Is that you?"

She only heard heavy breathing on the other end before Finn finally answered. "Yeah, sorry, Rach. I called to tell you I got the cameras up, but then I saw someone's flashlight so I panicked and ran."

Rachel glanced down at the flashlight in her hand before closing her eyes in exasperation. "Finn, what hallway were you in when you saw the flashlight?"

Rachel trained her flashlight's light on the 300 Hall sign as she listened to Finn confirm her thoughts. "300 halls, why?"

"Nothing, Finn. You know, paranoia could ruin the entire investigation. We're here to try to find out if my spirit resides in McKinley High 24/7, remember? We don't want to butcher this by allowing our fear to cloud our judgment."

Finn grumbled something into the line and Rachel smiled as she shook her head. "There's no one here but us, don't worry. I went through the entire school three times to confirm that. How many cameras did you set up?"

"Four, like you said. See? You needed me 'cause you totally couldn't have reached the spots you wanted on your own."

Rachel scoffed at her cell phone as she flipped it closed. She heard a rustling behind her and tossed her flashlight that direction, seeing nothing. She took a few calming breaths before walking towards the noise. The brunette braced her back against a locker as she realized the sun had completely set. It was almost time to start.

"Spirit… if you're out here," Rachel started, squinting into the darkness, looking for anything, "I want you to know what I'm doing."

Rachel paused, listening for any indication that she had been heard. She continued on nonetheless. "I know that we ended on somewhat of a bad note in my room last we talked… but I'm still here. I'm aware that you told me to leave you alone. I'm not going to do that though. I have a list of reasons why but I won't bore you with them right now."

Rachel felt her phone going off again as she saw the glow from her pocket. She ignored it for the moment though, inwardly cursing Finn's impatience. "I will tell you though, that there are two main reasons why. One being that for some reason, unbeknownst to me, you think that I'm on religious mission to exorcise you. That is incorrect. The second reason why I won't leave you alone, spirit, is that you fascinate me. You see… ever since I was six, I-"

Rachel screamed as she felt a hand grab her from the side. That same hand covered her mouth as it pulled her into a solid body. "Damn it, shush! Someone's going to hear you!"

Rachel yanked herself free from Finn's grasp and brought her hand to her heart, catching her breath. "Finn," she hissed, "you almost gave me a heart attack! What were you thinking?"

Finn threw his hands up and jeered. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe I was thinking that something happened to you since you weren't answering your phone!"

Rachel sighed as she hung her head. "I'm sorry… I was -"

"Talking to her?" Finn added quietly while supplying a small smile. "It's okay, you know. I'm not a big believer in ghosts but… if one was talking to me like she is to you, I'd want to talk back, too. Is she here?"

Rachel reached over and gripped Finn's hand with two hands. "I don't think so, no, which is too bad. I wanted her to understand what we were doing here. But, oh well. Let's go back to base-"

"You mean the choir room?"

"-and get our handhelds."

"You mean the tape recorder things?"

Finn held both flashlights in one hand and Rachel in the other as they made their way through the dark halls. "Finn, you didn't watch Ghost Hunters like I told you to, did you?"

Finn sputtered, "Come on! It was on at the same time that Skins starts playing the good movies."

* * *

><p>"Rachel and Finn in the McKinley hallways. There are outside sounds of the heater kicking on and occasional pipes rattling, but that seems to be all. It's 9:04 p.m.," Rachel spoke easily into the handheld audio device.<p>

Finn stopped asking questions long ago, opting to just follow Rachel and let her do her ghostly thing.

"What I'm hoping to achieve with this, Finn, is to catch the ghost's voice on this recorder," Rachel explained.

Finn bit his lip. "I get that, but… why do you need to do that if the ghost is like, willingly speaking directly to you?"

Rachel paused mid-step, shoulders sagging as she looked at the device in her hand. "That's an incredibly valid point."

* * *

><p>Finn held his face up to the thermal camera in Rachel's hand, smiling broadly. "This is so awesome! How did you get one of these?"<p>

Rachel beamed and chuckled as she watched Finn's multi-colored face in the viewfinder of the camcorder. "My fathers wholly supported my ghost hunting attempts when I was a child and got me one of these. It detects heat and the absence of heat, making it the perfect ghost finding object."

Finn took the camera from Rachel and pointed it at her, zooming in on her face. "You're all red! Means you're hot," he added, winking at her over the camera. Rachel couldn't help but laugh as she used her hands to steer the camera down the hallway.

"Let's keep this professional now. I need you to tell me if you see anything out of the ordinary on the viewfinder, okay? A patch of blue when the rest of the screen is red and a patch of red if the screen is blue."

Finn nodded as they began walking down the hallway. He would pan the camera over the hallway as Rachel let loose a string of questions in an attempt to get her spirit to react to them and show herself on camera.

"What is your name, spirit? Are you still mad at me? Is this your home? Did you die here?"

Once the couple had made their way through all of the hallways and come up short, Rachel called for a break.

"Well, it doesn't seem like there's anything going on right now. We can return to base and get you a snack," Rachel stated, fixing the direction that the thermal camera was set in as it sat upon a tripod. "Are you doing okay so far?"

Finn nodded sleepily as he glanced at his cell phone. "Yeah, I'm all right, I ate a few extra protein bars today to keep my strength up. It's only 2:34 anyway, I'm usually still up playing Halo right now, so it's all good."

Rachel laughed. "Good to know." She pressed her face against the camera lens one last time as she blew a kiss to it before turning and walking with Finn back to their base.

* * *

><p>Quinn walked through the doors of McKinley High around three a.m. It wasn't that she was normally there this late, but she'd been having an especially hard time "sleeping" that night, so she came here.<p>

She sighed as she made her way down the main hallway in flannel pajamas and a red McKinley sweatshirt. "Don't they run the heater in here anymore?" Quinn asked herself as she noticed a faint ring of mist around her body.

She was busy looking down at herself as she walked through an object that was definitely not normally in the middle of the hallway. Quinn paused as she sucked in unnecessary air and mumbled, "What the hell?"

She backtracked and raised her eyebrows as she found herself face to face with a video camera. She moved to the back of it and furrowed her brows as she glanced into the viewfinder. "What the hell kind of camera is this?" she questioned, looking at all of the colors on the screen. Hesitantly, Quinn leaned over and waved a hand in front of the camera. The screen flashed blue for a second and Quinn gasped.

"What is this thing?" She held her hand in front of the camera as she stared at a faint, blue outline of her hand in the viewfinder. Quinn glared daggers at the camera as her jaw dropped. "A camera that detects temperature changes, since when do they make these things? Damn."

She stopped her inspection of the camera when she heard voices coming down the hall, towards her. She stepped back into the shadows before rubbing her temples because, seriously? She's a ghost; she doesn't need to hide in the shadows.

"Finn!" Quinn slammed a fist into the lockers behind her. _Of course_ it was Rachel.

"What in the hell is she up to now?" Quinn whispered to herself as her eyes traced the halls, looking for the source of the voice she had heard.

"I cannot believe that you didn't set the camera to record!" Quinn snickered as Rachel and her boyfriend came around the corner, dressed completely in black.

"I thought you were doing that when you were messing with it!"

Quinn heard Rachel groan as the brunette stopped in front of the camera, turning it around on the tripod so she could inspect the back. A few seconds passed in silence as both Finn and Quinn watched Rachel fidget with the camera before she wrung her hands in the air. "It wasn't recording. We didn't catch anything from the last hour."

Finn gingerly placed a hand on Rachel's shoulder while talking soothingly to her. "It's okay, really, it is! You said so yourself that if she was here, she would've talked to you by now."

"Finn, we've been investigating for almost seven hours…" Rachel stated, completely disheartened as she rested her hands on the camera and stared into the lens, "Do… do you think I'm crazy, Finn?"

Quinn raised her head in the shadows and furrowed her brows at the sound of Rachel's voice. She watched Finn squeeze the girls shoulder before biting his lip and looking completely remorseful. "I… don't know, Rach. Maybe you just got a little… carried away. It wouldn't exactly…" Finn trailed off as the body under his hand began shaking with tears. "Oh, no, Rachel, don't cry…"

Quinn stepped closer to the couple and squinted in the dark. The light from Finn's flashlight made Rachel's face sparkle from the tears that were coursing down her cheeks. Quinn looked stricken as her heart went out to this girl that, really, she was supposed to call the enemy. The blond opened her mouth to say something, when Finn cut her off.

"Rachel… listen to me. No sane person could have imagined everything that you said happened to you. Maybe this is just proving your theory, you know? That she doesn't live here, or whatever ghosts do…"

Rachel turned to Finn and patted his chest reassuringly. "It's all right, really." She wiped her face and donned a phony smile. "We still have three hours of our investigation left! I'm sure we'll find something. I'm fine now, really. I'm probably just hungry."

Finn's face lit up as he nodded excitedly. "Yeah! That's probably it. Let's go get you a snack then go search for more of those floating voices."

Quinn watched Rachel follow Finn down the hall, shaking her head in awe towards the football player. "Can't believe he bought that…" Quinn muttered to herself as her gaze moved from the retreating figures to the Rachel's camera. Quinn stepped behind it again and nodded slowly as she saw the blinking "recording!" flashing on the screen. She bit her lip as her gaze moved from the spot Rachel and Finn walked towards, to the camera, and back.

* * *

><p>Rachel flew backwards as Finn crashed into her, hurling them into the lockers. "This is <em>not<em> how we act on an investigation, Finn!"

Finn bolted around Rachel and used her as a shield as he choked out, "What in the hell _is_ that?"

The brunette's glare faded into a smile as she turned to the row of lockers that were opening and closing, seemingly on their own. "_That_, Finn, is my spirit." She held the camcorder in the direction of the lockers as she hissed over her shoulder, "Finn, check the time!"

The boy tore his wide eyes off the lockers long enough to tell Rachel that it was 4:01 A.M. Rachel was grinning ear to ear as she called out over the noise, "Spirit! Thank you for alerting me of your presence. While I don't know if you're still angry at me or not, I do just have one question for you."

The locker's all simultaneously slammed shut as the hair on Rachel's arms stood up. She shivered and breathed out, seeing her breath swirling in front of her. Finn shifted forward and wrapped an arm around Rachel. "It got cold as hell," he whispered into her ear. She nodded as she took a step back into his embrace.

"I'll make it simple. Do you permanently reside in this school, spirit? Is this your home?"

Rachel silently took it as a good sign when the air still sparked after she'd asked the question. Her ghost was still in the room. "If you don't want to speak to me, then that's all right…Just… slam one locker for yes, and two for no."

Rachel felt Finn's labored breathing behind her as they waited in silence. After the silence stretched on for a couple minutes, Finn let out a breath. "I think she's gone."

Rachel faced forward with the same determined look she had when she asked the question. "She's not gone."

"But, Rachel it's been-"

"She's not gone!" Rachel repeated forcefully, watching her breath swirl in front of her mouth. "Can't you still feel her?"

Finn shrugged behind her. "I don't know… what I'm supposed to be feeling besides cold?"

Rachel's gaze dropped to her arms where the hair was still standing up. Her fingers twitched at her sides as she felt the electricity from the air shoot through her entire body. She furrowed her brow as she wondered how Finn could not possibly feel the entire room shift because of the spirit's presence.

A few minutes later and Finn began shifting his feet back and forth from impatience. Rachel sighed. "Okay… I guess she's not going to-"

She flinched as two lockers simultaneously opened and then slammed shut. Rachel ignored Finn's cursing behind her as she briskly closed the viewfinder on her camcorder, turning it off.

"So, the school isn't your home… noted. Thank you, spirit. I feel that it's only fair that you get to ask me a question in exchange for you answering one of mine."

Finn opened his mouth and sputtered, staring wide-eyed at the spot where the locker's slammed. "Rach, I don't think that's such a good idea."

The brunette brushed him off. "It's fine, really. I want her to know that she can trust me, and trust can only be given when earned. Therefore, if you have a question, I'll answer it. It's only fair."

Rachel handed the camcorder to Finn before smoothing out her black skirt. "Whenever you're ready, spirit."

* * *

><p>Quinn sat with her back pressed against a row of lockers, her knees drawn up to her chest and her chin practically resting on her left shoulder. The only light in the hallway came from the flashlight that Finn had set on his sprawled out legs and the red light from the camcorder on the floor next to the boy. He had fallen asleep after an hour of silence, sitting against the lockers with his legs stretched out in front of him. Rachel mimicked Quinn's position on the floor with her back against the same row of lockers as the ghost.<p>

It wasn't as if Quinn hadn't tried to talk to Rachel when she'd told her to ask questions. It wasn't as if Quinn hadn't _already_ talked to Rachel; she had, even yelled at her once. But the more Quinn had followed Rachel around in her shambled excuse for a paranormal investigation that night, the more Rachel talked to Quinn. The brunette had wandered the hallways of McKinley High with a ten-dollar audio recorder in both hands and a grin on her face as she had simply _talked_ to Quinn.

Quinn had walked beside Rachel as the brunette had asked Quinn her favorite color, what her favorite food had been, if she pulled pranks on people because she was bored, if she ever sang, and how old she was. Quinn hadn't answered any of Rachel's questions because she was actually afraid that Rachel would actually hear her voice again.

As Quinn wrapped her arms around her knees, she continued to watch Rachel's every movement. She absently rubbed her cheek with her shoulder as Rachel absently stared at the lockers across from them.

The sky outside was beginning to lighten up as Saturday morning began creeping around the corner. Quinn closed her eyes tightly as she rested her forehead against her arms. She couldn't bring herself to talk to Rachel again, not in this setting, not in a casual setting. Quinn had been driving herself insane for an entire month with trying to figure out why the hell Rachel wanted to get to know her. Aside from the instinctual curiosity that anyone would have when placed in Rachel's position, Quinn couldn't help but feel like there was something deeper there. That something deeper was what prevented Quinn from talking to Rachel again.

As if she could actually get to know someone, Quinn thought as she silently scoffed; as if anyone would treat Quinn as if she was human. As if she had a soul…

"I don't understand." Quinn's head snapped up as her gaze landed on Rachel, who was in the same position that she'd been sitting in for an hour, just waiting for Quinn to do or say anything. Quinn's brow furrowed as she focused on Rachel's disgruntled face.

"I don't understand why you won't talk to me anymore. It's not as if I can't feel your presence when you're around me. I know you've been with me for hours. Is it that you don't trust me, still?"

Quinn blew out a breath and shook her head. She closed her eyes tightly as she realized Rachel couldn't see the gesture. Regardless, Rachel continued speaking. "I don't know what else I can do to prove to you that I'm not here to hurt you."

Quinn opened her mouth to speak, to ask Rachel why she was there, then. But like every other time she'd tried that night, her mouth snapped shut as her chest tightened. Quinn's terror was too great. She was too afraid of Rachel, of what Rachel meant, and of what Rachel might do. Quinn didn't get human contact, she wasn't allowed that, so why now? There had to be a catch, and Quinn wasn't about to risk her position on earth to figure out what that catch was.

"I just want to know you… that's all. This is the most exciting experience of my life, spirit, and now I feel tied to you. I can't explain why, yet, but if you never speak to me again, I'll never be able to figure it out."

Quinn rested her head against the lockers. This Rachel girl, sitting five feet away from her, was one of the most terrifying things that Quinn had ever been faced with. Quinn's lips parted and air rushed out before she really knew what she was saying. "I can't trust anything, okay?"

Her hazel eyes widened as she quickly glanced over to Rachel, half hoping the brunette hadn't heard her; and if she had, she was making no acknowledgment either way. She continued to stare blankly ahead of her for a minute before nodding. "Fair enough," she said sincerely.

Quinn continued to watch her with a cutting gaze. "Does this mean you'll give up, move on, leave me be?"

Rachel waited a beat before she shook her head in the negative, keeping her gaze forward. "No."

Quinn's jaw dropped as Rachel took her bottom lip between her white teeth. "I don't think you understand, spirit," the brunette said seriously, finally turning towards the direction where Quinn was seated, "I can't give up."

Quinn watched Rachel calmly stand up and smooth out her skirt. She nudged Finn's leg with her small foot and told him it was time to wrap, and that they needed to clean up just in case someone came in to the school.

Quinn didn't have a chance to speak to Rachel again, and for that, she was almost grateful. She paced the halls of McKinley long after Rachel and Finn had left. Hours later, she ended up on the hard plastic chairs of the choir room, her hands on her knees and her toes tucked inwards as she sat in thought. It wasn't that Quinn didn't want a friend; it's that she didn't think she could have a friend. She was a ghost, for God's sake, and one that had been completely shunned from human contact for ten long, tortuous years.

Quinn shook her head as she balled her fists and cussed at herself. How could she even consider letting Rachel into her life? Quinn knew next to nothing about this girl, just that she was a loser with a cute boyfriend and this insane notion that she had a sixth sense. She was a threat to Quinn's plan, and God so help her, Quinn was not about to throw away a plan, that she'd spent eight years on, on a crazy girl who just needed a decent reality check.

She stood up and shook her head again. "I can't go soft just because someone says they want to know me. That's all well and fine for her but, it's not for me. She needs a heavy dose of reality, and I need to get her the hell away from me so she doesn't screw up my plan." Quinn threw her eyes over the choir room as an evil smile spread across her face. Fine, Quinn thought, if Rachel wouldn't give up voluntarily, Quinn would just force her to. She'd make Rachel wish she'd never stuck her big nose into Quinn's business, and once Quinn was rid of her, she could continue with her plan.

* * *

><p>Quinn didn't expect, when she walked into the doors of McKinley that Monday morning, to be greeted with a tiny lamb plushy on a fishing line sitting on the floor in front of her. She paused mid-stride, jamming her hands into her Cheerio's varsity jacket's pockets and tilting her head back. She scanned the hallway, making a full circle, before staring down at the stuffed animal again. What in the hell was this?<p>

The halls were still mostly deserted, so Quinn decided whoever planted the doll was waiting for someone specific, and not just a random kid. Quinn cocked an eyebrow and checked the clock on the wall before deciding she'd follow the line and see what idiot was pulling this prank.

Quinn's white tennis shoes made no noise to the world around her as she jogged down the hall, yet she could hear the noise they made in her mind as she imagined it out of habit. She rounded the lockers in the 100 hall and paused. Her shoulders and face slumped as she saw none other than Finn Hudson sitting there, fishing pole in his hand. She could tell by his face that he felt like an idiot for being in the position that he was in. Finn rolled his shoulders under his varsity athlete's jacket and kept glancing around the hall as if looking for someone.

Quinn sighed as she wondered when Rachel would stop this crap. She decided to start her plan of getting Rachel to leave her the hell alone a little earlier than she planned. The blonde smirked as she bent down behind Finn. Quinn cocked her head as she ghosted her hand over his arm, smiling as the hair rose and the boy froze.

The ghost blew softly into the boy's ear, wondering if it would even have any affect on him. When Finn shot sideways from his crouching position, shoulder-first into the lockers, Quinn smiled.

As Finn began furiously reeling in the fishing line, he began to stutter, "I-I'm hoping that you're here, ghost, and that I'm not just losing my shit. That happens you know, I did get hit in the head in the game last week…" He paused as the lamb came around the corner and Quinn sighed, steeling her shoulders.

"Anyway," Finn continued, gently picking up and cradling the lamb in one hand, "this is Rachel's and she'd kill me if anything happened to it. I was hoping it would lure you in though. I have a question for you."

Quinn cocked an eyebrow and, as if Finn could see that, he hastily added. "Not that you need to answer, that's totally cool. I just… I guess it's more of a favor." He paused, moving his eyes left and right slowly as he tried to place Quinn's position. "I hope I'm not like, looking at your chest or anything. Sorry if I am. I've never talked to a dead dude before."

Quinn's eyes closed as she let out an exhale. She shouldn't be this sensitive about it, she was just being weak. Still, that hurt. Her eyelids slid open as Finn continued. "The thing is… is that I want Rachel back. She's so obsessed with this creepy ghost thing we have going on here… it's all she focuses on. She just wants to help you and I'm like," he pauses, moving his hands in the air in some gesture that Quinn can't discern, "I'm like, babe, you can't help her. If she wanted help she'd come to you. Leave it alone. But she won't listen. I think she's obsessed. So, I was thinking… that you could just go away."

Quinn stared up at Finn with intense eyes as she stood frozen. He finally hit the right spot and she met his eyes, sending him a glare that he felt deep in his bones. "I'm not trying to offend you… I just want my girlfriend back. You were gone or quiet before; can't you just go back to that?"

Quinn's eyes dropped to the ground as she bit her lip. Being asked to leave after she'd just made contact with someone? Maybe this was why she wasn't supposed to talk to anyone. She turned briskly on her heels and ignored the last of Finn's speech as she weaved her way through the students that were just arriving. She didn't even enjoy the fact that Finn was getting weird looks for talking to himself until she saw _her_.

Quinn paused as Rachel Berry came around the corner. Her brown eyes widened impossibly more as she took in Finn rambling on to himself halfway down the hall. Quinn seemed frozen as she watched Rachel's Mary Janes begin to move towards her. If she continued on this path, Rachel would walk right through Quinn; yet, Quinn couldn't find it in her to move. She cocked her head to the side as she watched Rachel walk towards her with worried eyes. This innocent girl in a black terrier sweater, obsessed with Quinn? Why?

Rachel came to a screeching halt a breath away from Quinn as if she'd just slammed into a brick wall. Their heights allowed Quinn to stare straight down into Rachel's eyes. She imagined, just for that second, that Rachel was staring into hers as well.

The brunette stared wide-eyed as she let out an exhale of air that was visible in front of her. She watched her breath ghost in front of her before moving her eyes back up to Quinn's.

Quinn stood and stared as Rachel's hand lifted up into the air, as if she wanted to rest it on Quinn's cheek. Just as her hand was about to pass through Quinn's cheek region, Rachel pulled it back as if she'd just been burned. The ghost didn't even let herself blink; all of her thoughts were acutely tuned in to the way Rachel's chest rose and fell from the action of breathing, and the way her pink lips slowly curved up into a hesitant smile.

"I didn't want to step through you," Rachel whispered. She pulled her binders in closer to her chest, ducked her head, and made to step to the side of Quinn. Quinn closed her eyes tightly, however, when she felt a blast of something pass through her head and chest.

She opened her eyes as quickly as she shut them as she wondered what the hell went through her. Her mouth dropped open slightly as her eyebrows knit together in sadness as she took in Rachel, still standing in front of her, covered in lime slushy. The brunette's eyes were still closed as a group of Cheerios passed by with empty slushy cups in hand, not even gracing Rachel with a look.

Rachel opened her eyes and smiled again as she said, "They choose the lime because it's impossible to get out of my sweaters." She nodded as if to prove a point before ducking to the right and walking by Quinn and into Finn's arms.

Quinn stared blankly at the slushy stained spot on the white tiles where Rachel once stood. Her gaze lifted to the backs of the Cheerio's who had slushied Rachel, and in the blink of an eye, Quinn was halfway across the school in front of them.

"What is your problem?" Quinn yelled at the tallest blond Cheerio. "Was there any point in that?"

The blond Cheerio turned and opened her locker. Quinn stood just as tall as she did, and if this girl hadn't been such a bitch, she might have even reminded Quinn of herself. "Excuse me? You need to listen to me, sweetie. When I was on the Cheerios, we didn't get to pull crap like that. We didn't attack-"

The blond Cheerio turned and walked through Quinn, shocking her into silence. Quinn watched the three cheerleaders walk off, carefree, as if they hadn't just ruined Rachel's day. It wasn't until they rounded the corner and left Quinn's view did Quinn realize: The cheerleader hadn't heard Quinn. No one had. She did a full circle to see all of the students currently in the hall. None of them had heard Quinn yell.

None of them could hear her, except Rachel.

* * *

><p>Rachel lifted her head off her hand and gazed forward as the hair on the back of her neck lifted. She shifted her legs from under her desk and turned to face her bedroom. "Can I help you?"<p>

The paper she had just been working on lifted slightly as Rachel felt a chill again. Finn looked up from his history book from his spot on her bed. "Hm? I didn't say anything."

Rachel waved him off. "Not you, Finn. She's here."

Finn's textbook dropped into his lap as he swung his legs over the sides of Rachel's bed. "What?" he practically yelled.

Rachel's brow furrowed as she heard her paper move on her desk again. "What is wrong with you, Finn?"

The boy bit his lip as he shook his head. "I just didn't think she still came around."

Rachel cocked her head as her eyes clouded over with suspicion. "It's been a week actually since I last had contact with her. Also since the slushy incident. Why do you sound like you know something about this, Finn?"

Finn rolled his eyes as he ran his hands through his messy hair, dropping his head. "Look, Rach, you've just become really obsessed over this whole stupid ghost thing. I never thought I'd say this, but I miss your like, Broadway rants. I haven't heard anything about a gold star in a month."

Rachel worried her bottom lip between her teeth. Her ears perked up slightly when she heard a soft voice run through her mind. "He's right."

Rachel sighed, shaking her head. "I know he is."

Finn raised his eyes back up to Rachel's. "What?"

Rachel stared, confused, back at Finn until Quinn's voice ran through her mind again. "He can't hear me. No one can, actually, except for you. That aside, he's right. You're obsessed. You need to move on with your life, okay? And…"

Rachel blinked a few times as she stared forward into Finn's confused eyes, trying to keep her composure as she waited for the ghost to continue. Her chestnut eyes shone with terror as the words she was dreading finally hit her. "And just leave me alone."

Rachel's chest rose and fell with the gulp of air that wasn't making it past her throat. Finn was at her side in a flash on his knees on the floor with her small hand clutched in his, asking her why she was crying and what he had said.

She looked past him, however, letting his questions fall on deaf ears. When her head fell and her eyes closed tightly, Rachel focused completely on letting one word run through her mind in hopes that _maybe_ her spirit would hear her. She didn't know how spirit world communication worked, but if she forced the word "no" to run through her mind enough, maybe her ghost would get the hint.

Rachel felt like it wasn't enough, though. With her head still bowed and her eyes still closed and Finn still whispering loving nothings into her ear, Rachel sucked in a deep breath. When the word "no" fell from her lips in a fervent whisper, she opened her eyes and watched her breath from the word in the chilled air swirl in front of her.

She closed her eyes again, sinking into Finn. Her ghost had heard her.

* * *

><p>It had taken Rachel another half hour to convince Finn that she was okay enough for him to let go of her. After that, Finn convinced Rachel that he had nothing to do with the fact that her ghost hadn't visited or been around in a week. Rachel believed him enough to let him go home; but as her flats skimmed the ground underneath her swing, she couldn't shake the look in Finn's eyes when he had heard that they weren't alone in her room.<p>

Rachel shook her head as she pulled her yellow cardigan closer to her body. Despite it being a school night and despite promising Finn that she would be fine after he left, Rachel had left through her bedroom window twenty minutes after he left. No thoughts of fear crossed her mind as she wandered alone through Lima after dark, winding down side streets until she made it to the park she used to play at as a child.

Now, as she swung back and forth on the creaky swing, Rachel thought. She ignored the chilling wind signaling that winter was almost to Lima. She ignored the occasional headlights of cars passing by her. She ignored the heavy guilt of knowing her fathers were lying in bed, asleep, thinking she was completely safe at home.

Rachel's small hands wrapped themselves tightly around the chains of the swing as she focused on the dirt underneath her. She took in a deep breath and allowed her mind to catch up with herself.

There were times when Rachel, admittedly, became obsessed with a goal or a dream. How else could someone make their dreams come true, though? There was no way Rachel could get out of Lima, Ohio and to New York, New York without becoming obsessed with controlling every path that led to her future.

Sure, that led to bullying and taunting from the moronic teenage population of Lima. Rachel shook her head as a small smile graced her face. No, she never cared about that, and that's why she was just _that_ much closer to Julliard.

Her smile dropped from her face, however. Maybe Finn had a point, after all. Rachel's brows furrowed together as she tried to recall the last time she had put up a Myspace video, or the last time she had advertently fought Mercedes or Brittany for a solo in glee club.

Rachel's head snapped up. Glee club! "Oh my goodness," Rachel whispered to herself as she realized how out of it she really had been. Her mouth dropped open when she realized she hadn't even contributed one song to their sectional's set list; she had opted to sit in the back and read her new book on ghost channeling.

Her black flats hit the ground with a dull thud as she stopped her swing from moving. She shook her head in shock as she realized she had almost no recollection of what had been happening in her life those past few weeks. She could, however, think of every time she had felt her ghost and every second of audio that contained a sound that could have _potentially_ been supernatural.

The spirit's words from earlier that night rang through her mind as they tangled with Finn's. Rachel slowly realized, with a hint of humiliation, that she had been so wrapped up in her own world that she had forgotten the real world was still alive. That the people who loved her were still alive.

Yet, the one person she was so focused on, so obsessed with helping and learning about, that person wanted Rachel to leave her alone.

Rachel watched the wind pick up a large pile of leaves and carry them off. She bit the inside of her cheek as she watched the leaves twirl in and out of each other, almost completely interwoven as one. Why did she feel so connected to this spirit? Rachel brought her hand to rest on her stomach as she felt her insides clench. Just the mere thought of forgetting her ghost, moving on, without finding out who she even _was_, physically hurt Rachel.

Rachel had always been accused of being obsessed with things that would never happen. She was taunted for believing in change and a brighter future while living in a place blinded by grey walls. She shook her head. No, this whole thing wasn't obsession. Was it?

Rachel pulled out her cell phone. She checked the time and gasped. She quickly began walking towards home; she knew that if she didn't start walking soon she'd never make it to bed on time, and then - She stopped. She hadn't done her elliptical routine in at least a week.

She stood in the middle of the park for a minute as this realization hit her. After another beat of silence she mumbled, "What happened to me…?"

Her eyes slid closed as she balled her fists at her side as her inner turmoil continued to escalade. No, there was no way she could just leave her spirit alone. She was connected to her, and far too invested in her at that point to just give up and walk away. She didn't even know who she was, yet.

Rachel opened her eyes again as she gazed at the street in front of her. Or did she? Her eyes slammed shut as the memory of a fire burned a path through her mind, lighting her thoughts on fire. She remembered cars, tears, and firefighters yelling at the bystanders on the sidewalk just twenty feet in front of Rachel. She remembered her daddy was wearing his favorite maroon sweater and Rachel was wearing her new pair of ballet shoes. She remembered that she had pressed her face against the back window of her parent's car as she saw a blond-haired woman fall to her knees and shriek-

Rachel's eyes snapped open, and her brown eyes were clouded with tears. "No," Rachel whispered, shaking her head back and forth. It wasn't the same girl. It couldn't be. It was just a coincidence that Rachel remembered that crash so vividly. What six-year-old child wouldn't remember their first time seeing a fatal car crash?

Rachel sucked in a breath as she spared one final look at the street before turning and heading back towards her home.

The entire walk back, Rachel busied herself with listing everything that she needed to do to get back on track with her life. She wasn't about to give up on her ghost, but she'd be damned if she was going to let her life fall to pieces because of that. Rachel started to regret taking her midnight excursion when she realized that she didn't know the way back to her home during the night as well as she did in the daytime.

However, she buried her worry in the back of her mind by planning how she was going to re-write the sectional's set list to her standards without the glee club necessarily knowing or being able to stop her. Before she knew it, she passed a familiar pink cherry tree at the end of a residential street. That tree was always her signal to know that she was almost home.

When Rachel finally fell asleep that night, the incident with her ghost lingered in the back of her mind, but she was finally able to plan her day without worrying about which areas of the school would be promising for a ghostly encounter.


	3. Three

Deus Ex Machina [god in the machine]

* * *

><p>Quinn walked into the house with a sigh, letting her jacket roll from her shoulders and onto the hardwood floor, vanishing with contact. She ran her hand through her hair and tugged out a knot as she made her way past the hallway mirror. Quinn paused, as always, as she searched the mirror for hazel eyes that she hadn't seen in ten years.<p>

She shook her head after a minute before she made her way towards the kitchen. She had already had a hell of a week, which, coupled with the incident at Rachel's house and avoiding the brunette all week, meant that now she just needed to rest. Plus, all of the best shows were on Friday night. Quinn loved her TV.

Quinn flicked her wrist as she passed the stereo on the kitchen counter, and instantly the house was full of Iron & Wine. She sighed as she glanced around the kitchen. Who knew that it would have been so hard to avoid Rachel Berry? She'd been doing it for the past ten years, yet now, Quinn couldn't seem to walk anywhere without the brunette being there. Like, the minute Quinn learned of Rachel Berry's existence, her entire world changed. The thing was, Rachel hadn't been looking for Quinn; Quinn had just continuously run into the brunette.

However, alone in her house, she realized that company, even in the form of said psychotic Smurf, was better than none at all. Quinn paused, letting out a bitter laugh; her house? She had to stop thinking that.

Wandering over to the fridge, she ghosted her fingers over the picture of her aunt and uncle that was pinned up by a McKinley football helmet magnet. "Their house," Quinn reminded herself, "their timeshare." Quinn smiled reminiscently at her family that she only saw every few months.

She shook her head, shaking herself out of those thoughts before she became depressed again. She was thankful that she had a roof over her head, whether she needed one or not, end of story. No reminiscing. Quinn pointedly ignored the picture of her, her parents and older sister that also hung on the fridge as she turned to the kitchen table. Who was she kidding? She didn't need company, she had TV. Hell, she didn't even need to eat - but eating was human, so Quinn made a point to eat three meals a day.

Quinn blinked and suddenly, before her on the kitchen table, sat a steaming bowl of stew. A smile slowly tugged at the corners of her lips as she sat down, twirling the spoon that had just appeared in her right hand. There was one thing, and one thing only, that Quinn would ever admit was cool about being a ghost: Being able to conjure up anything and everything that she could possibly want at any given moment.

Quinn ate her dinner as she let the music from the stereo wash over her. She let her mind drift as she thought back on how Rachel had acted in school that week. Quinn had thought that after Rachel had been so adamant on saying she wasn't going to leave Quinn alone that would have meant that, well, she wouldn't have left Quinn alone. Her arched eyebrows furrowed together as she realized that Rachel hadn't made even one effort to contact or look for Quinn that week. Plus, the only time Quinn had actually seen her in the library was in the music section. Okay, maybe Quinn could admit that she hadn't exactly just "bumped into" Rachel as often as she sought Rachel out.

"Wait," Quinn mumbled to herself, "I tell Rachel to leave me alone, and then I spend the whole week watching her to see why she isn't still bugging me? What's wrong with this picture?" She stood up abruptly, cursing at herself as she passed through the table. With a pointed glare, Quinn made the half-empty bowl of stew and spoon disappear from the kitchen table. "You're losing it, Fabray. Maybe you're the obsessed one, not her."

Quinn stood in silence as the stereo died down and her thoughts took over. The house remained silent as Quinn slapped her palm down onto the table in frustration. "Why did she have to be able to hear me?" Quinn cried out in frustration, "Why did someone have to be able to hear me after all this time, huh?" Quinn screamed to the heavens, running a hand through her hair and choking back a sob. "And why couldn't she have just thought that she was hallucinating," she finished in a whisper, dropping back down onto her chair.

A couple of hours passed, leaving Quinn in the same chair and her hands cradling her face as she thought. The decrepit grandfather clock a room away chimed, signaling midnight and shaking Quinn from her thoughts. "What do I do?" she whispered, dropping one hand from her cheek to palm the wooden cross hanging around her neck. "Why did you send her to me? Is this a trial? Why do I feel so connected to her? You haven't let anyone hear me or contact me for the past ten years, and all of a sudden, you throw Rachel into my life. Why, God?"

Quinn twirled the cross between her fingers as she listened to the expected silence. She never got an answer, but she never gave up asking. "One day… one day, you will make sense. If you could just give me a sign though, just anything to tell me what I'm supposed to do with this girl!"

She lifted her eyes to the kitchen window where the light from the moon was flooding through. She laughed bitterly as she felt her chest tighten, feeling completely overwhelmed. "Most people would be happy about having someone to talk to, but not me. God forbid I be normal about anything." Quinn stood up from the table and made her way to the couch, turning on the TV along the way. As she lied on the couch, her eyes slid closed. She fell asleep somewhere between Funny Girl and Sleepless in Seattle.

* * *

><p>Rachel nestled herself against Finn, his arms encircling her waist as she lied against him in her bed. Finn had opted out of going to the usual Saturday night jock party in order to hang out with Rachel, seeing as how she'd completely immersed herself in glee club that week. "I've missed you," Finn said as he nuzzled Rachel's neck.<p>

The brunette smiled as she worked with the DVD remote in her hand. "I didn't go anywhere, silly."

"No," he agreed, "but you have been so busy with glee this week that I barely got to see you. It's kind of nice though."

"Not getting to see me?" Rachel asked, hurt.

Finn chuckled. "No, seeing you putting all of your efforts back into glee; into your dreams, you know?"

Rachel nodded, the frown disappearing off her features as quickly as it appeared. "I suppose so."

Finn watched her twirl the DVD remote in her hand with a quizzical expression. "What's bugging you, Rach?"

Rachel turned her dark eyes onto her boyfriend as she sat to face him. "You didn't tell me the truth last week."

Finn's eyebrows rose as his gaze darted to the left. "What do you mean?"

Rachel watched Finn panic with veiled disappointment. "About the thing with my ghost. You know something about why she hasn't been around me anymore, don't you? I let it go then because I was already emotionally distraught and didn't think that I could handle whatever your explanation would have been. I want to know now, though."

Finn blinked before letting out a sigh. "Come on, Rach. We were supposed to have a nice night."

"And we will as soon as you tell me what you know. Did you do some extra research? Did you do something to offend her, somehow, and were just scared to tell me?"

Finn felt the guilt build up in his stomach as his girlfriend rambled out excuses for him. He shook his head almost imperceptibly. "No, it… wasn't like that. I uh, talked to her."

Rachel's mouth dropped open in shock as her breathing hitched. "She - she spoke to you?"

Finn quickly shook his head. He drew in a deep breath before continuing. "Truth is, I set a little trap for her before school a couple weeks ago. I just wanted to get her attention so I could talk to her. Hell, I didn't even know if I was talking to anyone… but the air got all cold, and the little hairs on the back of my neck rose so I assumed it was her." Rachel said nothing, so Finn hesitantly continued. "I-I was missing you, a lot, and I thought you'd become a little too obsessed with finding out how to help her and wanting to know all about her and stuff. I mean, she is dead, it's not like you can do anything -"

"Finn," Rachel bit out in frustration, "you're digressing. Get back to your point."

"I told her to leave you alone. I said I wanted you back, and I figured she didn't want you bugging her anyway. So, I told her to go away."

Rachel retracted from Finn as if she'd just been burned by fire. Her eyes squinted in anger as she shook her head in disbelief. "Finn I can't… I cannot believe that you went behind my back like this. I can't believe you had the audacity to undermine something that I believed in so wholeheartedly."

"That's the thing Rachel," Finn interrupted, loudly, "you could be talking to the friggan air for all we know! This could all be in your mind! You think you're psychic, but you could just be imagining all of this!"

Rachel's mouth snapped shut as she leaned backwards in shock. Finn closed his eyes as he immediately regretted his words. When he opened them, he saw tears welling up in his girlfriend's eyes. "You saw things, Finn. You saw and felt things."

Finn shook his head slowly. "I could have just been caught up in the moment. We were in a dark school, all alone, I was already scared."

Rachel attempted to blink back the tears that were already coursing down her cheeks. "You think I'm crazy."

"I think you're not acknowledging the fact that there could really just be nothing there… you just… really want there to be something, or someone; a ghost… and so you're seeing things that maybe aren't what you think they are."

Rachel fixed Finn with a hollow look, her chocolate eyes completely devoid of any emotion. "You need to leave."

Finn desperately grasped for straws as he sat up from Rachel's headboard. "No, please Rachel I'm just-"

"Get out Finn, now, before I call my fathers up here to physically remove you." Rachel stood up from the bed and smoothed out her skirt, not taking her eyes off Finn.

The jock hung his head as he stood up and grabbed his coat. Finn paused in her doorway, however, and turned back to the brunette. "I think you need help, Rachel," he gently whispered, "I can't get through to you anymore."

A ghost of a smile played on Rachel's lips as more tears slid down her face. "And I think you need a new girlfriend, Finn. Maybe one who isn't so crazy."

Finn's face remained expressionless as he stared into Rachel's eyes a moment longer before turning and leaving.

* * *

><p>Rachel jammed her tiny hands into the pockets of her red pea coat. November had brought an unusual chill to Lima, and the nights were far colder than the days were. It took Rachel five minutes to realize she needed a walk after kicking Finn out. She laughed bitterly into the night air. She hadn't just kicked him out; she'd broken up with him.<p>

She wandered down the suburban neighborhoods around her house, letting the cold air numb her. It wasn't late by Lima standards, so most people were still awake. Rachel blinked back the tears that the cold wind brought on as she lost herself in her thoughts. She loved to walk, it relaxed her and gave her a chance to lose herself in her thoughts and not be distracted by the daunting feelings that the Broadway playbills that hung on her walls brought her.

Rachel rounded a corner, wincing from the light of a streetlight. Was she crazy? She paused mid-step. Was she? No. She shook her head vehemently before walking again. She'd had conversations with her spirit. Rachel had never shown hallucinatory symptoms of madness before, and that wasn't something that just happened to people. Besides, she'd _seen_ her spirit do things. The bathroom door hitting her in the face was just as real as when her spirit had flung Rachel's notebook across the room at her. She _wasn't_ crazy. "I'm not crazy," she whispered into the night air.

"Sure about that, Berry?"

Rachel shrieked, whirling around and pulling out her pepper spray from her pocket. "Who's there?" She focused in and squinted her eyes in the direction she heard a low chuckle from. "Noah Puckerman, is that you?"

Rachel heard another laugh as she watched Noah pull himself up and over a wooden fence that led to someone's backyard, an unopened bottle of Smirnoff in his hand. Rachel dropped her mouth in shock as she stamped her foot on the cement. "Noah! Did you just rob that house?"

The taller, mohawked boy grinned cheekily at her as he used his free hand to dust the dirt off his jacket. "You bet I did, babe. What are you doing just walking around in the dark? Shouldn't you be with that boyfriend of yours?"

Rachel scrutinized her miscreant friend from glee club. "I broke up with him."

Noah looked from the bottle of vodka in his hand, back up to Rachel, before holding up the bottle and smiling. "Wanna forget about him?"

Rachel half smiled as she rolled her eyes. "No thank you, Noah. I'm just out for a walk to clear my mind."

Noah pursed his lips as he rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, Berry. If you're not in, I'm going to hit up a party and land me some Cheerios." He paused, looking over Rachel's shoulder and furrowing his eyebrows together. Rachel turned, slowly following his gaze with her eyes.

The brunette turned fully when she saw the house across the street. It was the house that she always used as a reference point to make her way back home; it was the house with the giant, beautiful cherry tree in front of it. "I didn't know the Fabrays were back in town," she heard from next to her.

"Pardon?" Rachel asked, turning to look at her friend.

Noah shrugged, facing the house with all of its lights on. "The Fabrays. That's their timeshare, but they only come for the summers, I wonder why they're back now. Or… maybe it's the ghost," he said, a smirk playing on his lips as he lowered his voice. "They say a ghost inhabits the place, making all of these horrible noises and scaring away anyone who comes near the place. The Fabrays refuse to comment on it."

Noah watched Rachel, hoping he'd scared her. Rachel watched the house in silent wonder, a small smile beginning to form on her face. When he heard nothing from her, he sighed, clapping a hand onto her shoulder. "It's just a scary story, Berry. I was hoping you'd jump into my arms and let me comfort you. I'm sure the Fabrays are just back for the holidays or something."

Rachel shook herself out of her thoughts and turned to him. "You shouldn't spread rumors like that, Noah. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to finish my walk. Don't forget to practice your song for glee next week."

Noah rolled his eyes as he patted Rachel on the back. "Sure thing, short-stack. Be careful out there. See ya around." He turned and pulled his leather coat tighter as he walked away in the opposite direction of Rachel.

Rachel watched him round the corner before she turned and faced the house across the street. What possessed her to walk across that street and knock on that door, Rachel never figured out. After three knocks, the music she had been hearing from inside abruptly shut off. She bit her lip in fear as she took a step back, keeping her fingers wrapped around the pepper spray in her pocket. "What in the hell am I doing?" she mumbled to herself, not hearing any footsteps inside.

* * *

><p>Quinn heard the knocking on the door and froze, the bowl of ingredients she had been working on disappearing from the counter. She shut the music off and in an instant, shut off every light in the house. It had been months since anyone had come knocking on her door. Quinn walked through the door and sucked in a breath. There in front of her was the very bane of her existence, looking absolutely terrified.<p>

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," Quinn blurted out, clamping her hands over her mouth as soon as the words escaped her. She groaned as she watched Rachel's eyes widen in realization.

"I knew it was you. My dear friend Noah Puckerman told me that some terrifying ghost apparently haunted this place. Obviously he was just trying to get into my pants, ironically enough because I'm wearing a skirt, but he unknowingly helped me and -"

"Shut up," Quinn bit out, cutting the brunette off. "Just, shut up. Get in here, now. The door's unlocked."

Rachel beamed, making sure to check behind her before she twisted the doorknob and made her way into the dark house.

* * *

><p>The first thing that Rachel thought was that the house didn't smell musty like she'd imagined a ghost's house would. She walked carefully down the dark hallway, gently biting her lip in nervousness before quietly calling out, "I-I would appreciate a little bit of light, spirit. I'm already quite nervous as is, I'm sure you can imagine."<p>

Rachel paused, hearing an exasperated groan before all of the lights came on simultaneously. Rachel blinked, adjusting to the light before moving down the hall. "Spirit, it's rude to invite someone into your house and then ignore them."

She whirled to the right as she heard a short laugh being barked out from the kitchen. "I didn't _invite_ you anywhere, Berry. You showed up on my doorstep," Rachel bit her lip, her entire body humming with both excitement and slight fear as she followed the spirit's voice, "and it's not like I can just let you stand out there. That would draw unwanted attention, which you seem to be amazing at doing."

Rachel scoffed lightly as she walked into the bright kitchen. The entire house had been done in soft colors, and Rachel smiled at the pictures on the fridge. The brunette couldn't hold back her smile as her thoughts raced in her mind. This was it! This was the chance she'd been waiting for since the first time she made contact; just being able to sit and speak with her spirit!

She blinked, taking a staggering step backwards as she heard snapping in front of her face. "Were you even listening to me?"

Rachel beamed in the direction of the voice as she shook her head. "Not at all, spirit. I apologize, but this is incredibly thrilling and yet overwhelming for me. You see, I've been waiting for this opportunity for a while."

"To what, break into my house and harass me? I thought I told you to leave me alone," Rachel heard from next to the sink.

"And if you recall correctly, I distinctly told you that I wasn't going to do that," Rachel answered briskly, unbuttoning the buttons on her jacket. She felt a rush of cool air and heard another heavy sigh.

"Why are you taking off your jacket?"

Rachel smiled to herself as she sat down in a chair and crossed her legs. "You could have just as easily told me to leave, spirit, and I would have left. Yet, you invited me in, that must mean some part of you wanted me here." Rachel paused as she waited for an answer. Not getting one, she continued. "I'm sure you're wondering why I was out for a walk by myself on a Saturday night. Much less, in the very neighborhood you just so happen to live in."

Rachel's eyes traced the kitchen casually before she heard a scoff and a snapped "not really" from the chair across the table from her. The brunette smiled softly as she ducked her head.

"I broke up with my boyfriend tonight," she whispered, chancing a glance across the table, only to see an empty chair. Rachel furrowed her brow as she paused, taking in the fact that an empty chair, albeit wasn't _really_ empty, but, regardless, was serving as a better listener than any of her so called "friends" would have been in that moment.

There was a pause before Rachel heard, "You mean that dopey quarter back?" Rachel nodded once. "_You_ broke up with him, or he broke up with you?"

Rachel glared as folded her hands over her crossed legs. "I broke up with him, thank you very much. He called me crazy for this whole spirit thing."

"Aren't you, though?" Rachel whipped her face towards the direction of the sink.

"You move incredibly quickly, how do you do that?" the brunette questioned, glancing back to the chair that her ghost had just been in.

"I walk. Answer my question."

Rachel blinked, honestly not remembering the question she had been asked, losing herself in picturing how a ghost could possibly walk. "Could you please repeat the question?" She bit back a laugh as she heard an exaggerated groan. Her ghost had quite the temper. Wait. Rachel's eyes dropped as she wondered when exactly she had started referring to the spirit as hers.

"Oh my God, you're still not listening to me. You come here for _whatever_ reason, tell me about your break-up as if I actually care, and then you don't even listen to me. Maybe this is why I never talked to you before!"

"I highly doubt that," Rachel responded smoothly, raising her eyes up to the sink again. "I think you were afraid to talk to me. I think you still are." Silence. Rachel continued, her voice much softer this time, "If it helps, I'm afraid, too. Is it sad that I feel more comfortable talking to you than anyone else?"

"Yes."

Rachel turned to face the chair on her left. "So be it. At least I can take solace in the notion that I'm clearly not crazy or delusional in any way."

"How do you know?" she heard, from the same spot, "I mean this could all be one giant hallucination. You could be lying, out cold, on the pavement outside after having a seizure and now you're hallucinating all of this."

Rachel's eyebrows rose as she chuckled. "Goodness, you really aren't used to human contact, are you?"

* * *

><p>Quinn leaned forward in her chair, her bangs falling into her face as she gaped at Rachel. "At least I have an excuse to be socially awkward, or whatever everyone calls it now."<p>

Quinn watched Rachel perk up at her words, leaning forward herself to ask, "You said 'whatever everyone calls it now' which leads me to infer that you aren't from this time period, am I right?"

Quinn slowly cocked an eyebrow. "I just insulted you."

"I'm taking that to mean that I'm correct."

Quinn bit her lip in frustration and blinked herself to in front of the sink, not liking how close Rachel was leaning in to her. "Well don't, because you're wrong." Rachel furrowed her brows and opened her mouth to speak again when Quinn cut her off. "Don't you get it?" she practically yelled, "Don't you understand? This isn't normal! You can't just come in here and expect to sit down and have a normal conversation with me!"

Rachel dropped her eyes as confusion danced across her features. She raised her eyes towards Quinn directions before honestly asking, "And why not? You're human, humans communicate by speaking and conversing. I would assume since apparently no one else can hear you, you'd enjoy a nice conversation with the one person who can."

Quinn stood rooted in the middle of the kitchen, her eyes wide with shock. Human. Rachel called her _human_. As tears welled up in her eyes, she watched Rachel worry her bottom lip between her teeth. "I-I'm sorry if I was incorrect just now. Perhaps it's not that you don't wish to converse with anyone, perhaps it's just that you don't wish to converse with me. See, I just assumed that your hostility towards me was because I was butting into your personal affairs, or so you thought, but maybe you just don't like me. If that's the case then, I'm sorry spirit, for-"

"Quinn," the blond whispered, her own name both feeling and sounding unfamiliar to herself as it rolled off of her tongue for the first time in ten years, "my name i-is Quinn. Quinn Fabray."

Quinn watched Rachel's features move from awestruck to realization as the brunette stood up. She grew skeptical as the brunette paused in front of her, and it was only then that Quinn saw the unshed tears in Rachel's eyes. "Quinn Fabray…"

The ghost sucked in a breath. _God_ it sounded nice hearing Rachel say her name. Then again, it would probably sound nice hearing anyone say it.

"I'm truly honored to officially meet you, then, Quinn Fabray," Rachel said, smiling softly.

Quinn, eyebrow cocked and, with tears falling down her face, stood stock still as she drank in Rachel's appearance. She noticed the way the brunette's eyes seemed to sparkle and the way her bangs fell across the scar on her forehead that Quinn had noticed during their second encounter in the bathroom. Who was this girl? Quinn took a few steps backward, bracing her hands against the sink counter. "What do you want from me?" she whispered in a hoarse voice.

Rachel's small smile dropped from her lips slowly as her eyes searched the room, looking for an answer that Quinn didn't think even she knew. "I don't know," Rachel whispered back, equally as quiet, "I've been trying to figure that out since you slammed a restroom stall door into my face." Quinn watched Rachel make her way back to the kitchen chair, smooth her skirt, and sit back down. "Nothing has been the same since I met you, though. It's almost as if I'm on autopilot, like I'm being constantly driven to do something I just - I just don't know what."

Quinn caught a breath as Rachel lifted her eyes and met Quinn's - It still freaked her out how the little diva always managed to do that. "I feel like we're connected, somehow…" Rachel breathed out, dropping her gaze again, "Like, I was born… to help you." Quinn watched Rachel laugh bitterly. "How idiotic does that sound? I'm really sorry, Quinn, for bugging you. And for apparently scaring you. I'm not here to hurt you, honestly, I just feel so incredibly connected to you…" Quinn watched the brunette curl her fingers, making a silent gesture that Quinn understood as frustration.

The worst part about this, Quinn thought, was that she understood where Rachel was coming from. Quinn couldn't let Rachel have that yet, though. "What if you tried? You know, going back to your life and being normal."

At this, Rachel perked up, smiling. "That's the beauty of it! A week or so ago I took a walk to the park and re-evaluated my life. I've actually created a perfect balance between every day life and the tasks involved that will eventually lead me to stardom, and-"

"Obsessing over me," Quinn finished dryly.

Rachel pursed her lips. "That's not what I was going to say, Quinn. I am not some Edward Cullen figure, that relationship was certainly unhealthy." Quinn let out a genuine laugh, giving Rachel silent props in her head. Hearing Quinn laugh, Rachel smiled herself. "I was just saying I've brought balance back into my life. I feel better. But that doesn't mean I'm giving up on helping you."

"What if I don't need help?" Quinn whispered.

Rachel thought over that for a minute before shrugging helplessly. "I don't know. I honestly don't know."

There was silence in the kitchen after that for a few minutes as Quinn silently watched Rachel grow restless and start to putter about and search the cabinets. The blond watched Rachel run her fingers over the family pictures on the fridge; and Quinn watched on in envy as the picture's bent under Rachel's touch. She watched Rachel's fingers move over her mother's face, then her father's. Rachel's ministrations paused, however, right before she touched Quinn's face.

"Did you love him?" Quinn asked from her spot, now on the counter, in an attempt to distract Rachel from asking about the pictures. Or so she told herself. Why would she care if Rachel had loved him or not?

The brunette turned to face Quinn, a wistful smile playing on her lips. Her fingers left the pictures as she turned, and Quinn let out a relieved sigh. "Did I love Finn? Yes, I did… but not as in I was "in love" with him," Rachel added, air quoting. "I came close, though, I think. He really is a good guy."

Quinn arched an eyebrow. "He thinks you're insane."

"Well, minus that little unfortunate incident."

"Do you want to get him back?"

Quinn watched something come over Rachel, something akin to conviction before her gaze softened again. "No, I don't. There's a part of me that wants to because he's _Finn_," Rachel said, as if that would just explain something. "But I broke up with him, so it wouldn't make sense for me to want to get him back. Nor would I take him back if he came crawling back to me on his giant, oaf-like football kneepads," Rachel said bitterly, before calming down again.

Quinn stared at Rachel, an eyebrow cocked as she let out a laugh. "You are kind of crazy, aren't you?"

Rachel turned an amused look on Quinn, showing off her teeth in a genuine smile, and for a minute, Quinn was taken aback by how gorgeous Rachel could be. When she wasn't trying to butt into Quinn's life and give her life lessons on how to not be a delinquent ghost, that is. "I'm not crazy, Quinn, simply incredibly goal driven."

* * *

><p>Winter break snuck up on Rachel that year; between glee club, schoolwork, avoiding Finn, and Quinn, Rachel could barely keep track of days. Hiram, Rachel's Jewish father, cautiously poked his head into his daughter's room at 6:15 a.m. that Monday morning. "Rachel, why are you on your elliptical?"<p>

Rachel furrowed her brow under her pink headband, not stopping her movements, "Father, you've been living with me for sixteen years and you're just now questioning my before school customs?"

The shorter man laughed, pushing his glasses up his nose. "I'm well aware of all of your customs, Rachel, what I'm not aware of is why you're up doing them when you're on winter break."

Rachel gasped as she hastily hit the "stop" button on her elliptical. "It's winter break?" Hiram nodded slowly. "I have approximately two to three weeks off of school?" He nodded again, slowly raising his eyebrows. "Do you know what this means, father?" Hiram shrugged helplessly, silently wondering why he had volunteered to tell his daughter that she had no school. "It means I get to spend this time evenly divided between spending time with my ghost and training the glee club _all_ day instead of just in our hourly practices!" She grabbed her towel and ran past the stunned man, hugging him quickly as she made her way to the bathroom.

Hiram shook his head as the whirlwind known as his daughter made her way past him. He rubbed his temples as he made his way downstairs and into the kitchen, sitting down across the table from his husband, Leroy. The bigger man raised his eyes to watch his husband across from him, "I take it she took the news poorly?"

Hiram shook his head, reaching for a glass of orange juice. "Quite the opposite, actually. She was thrilled that she would be able to spend time with her ghost and train the glee club with no time constraints."

Leroy chuckled deeply, returning his gaze to the newspaper in his hands. "Do you think we should be worried about the ghost thing?"

Hiram paused in thought before shaking his head. "No, I don't think so. Whatever she's in contact with doesn't seem to be evil, from what she's told us. Worse comes to worse, we'll go to the house with her and see for ourselves."

Leroy nonchalantly took a sip of coffee, his eyes still on the paper. "I have a feeling we'll be meeting _her_ soon, anyway."

* * *

><p>Rachel strode purposefully down the street outside, her Mary Janes crunching against the snow on the sidewalk. She pulled her jacket closer around her as she made her way past the street sign for Dudley Road. A smile graced her lips as she walked up the three steps of the Fabray porch, rapping her knuckles against the door three times.<p>

She cocked her head lightly, listening for the expected -

"Don't you have any other friends?"

There it was. Rachel smiled, primly opening the front door and striding inside, locking the door behind her. "Does that mean we're friends?"

She heard an amused "no" from the living room. The brunette followed the voice, taking off her jacket and hanging it on the coat rack before leaving the hallway. She smoothed her green houndstooth skirt before sitting down on the ivory colored couch. "What are you watching?"

Rachel heard a sigh from the other end of the couch before, "The Human Monster."

Rachel scrunched her nose at the grotesque black and white images on the screen before her. "How old is this?"

"It's from the 1930's. I like old films, okay?"

Her lips drew together to form a straight line as she ducked her head, glancing towards Quinn's direction. "I wasn't judging you, I apologize."

"Whatever. I'm really hoping you didn't come over here today to watch movies with me. Although, it would be a nice break from you trying to get information out of me like you've been doing every day for the past week."

Rachel smiled, racking her eyes over the classical furniture in the living room. "While I would not mind watching movies with you, horror movies are not exactly my forte. Why do you watch them?"

There was a beat of silence before Rachel heard, "It comforts me to be reminded that not all monsters are real."

Rachel's gaze softened as she whipped her head around to face Quinn's direction. Her voice was soft as she whispered, "You're not a monster, Quinn."

There was another beat of silence before Quinn's whisper broke the stillness. "I didn't mean me."

* * *

><p>Quinn watched Rachel's eyes widen in realization. The brunette's mouth open and closed as she tried to find the right words. "You-you mean… there are others here, besides you?"<p>

Quinn pursed her lips as she stared hard at Rachel. The little diva had become far too comfortable around Quinn lately: coming to her house regularly and asking questions that Quinn had a hard time avoiding. It was unnerving, and Quinn was terrified that she had passed the point where she could get rid of Rachel like she had wanted to. Quinn was terrified she was past the point of wanting to get rid of Rachel. But, maybe… maybe if Rachel knew the truth about the horrors that surrounded Quinn, she would finally be scared off and Quinn's life could go back to normal. She cringed. Her life; well, her afterlife.

"Yes."

Rachel scooted closer to Quinn; her interests had clearly been peaked. "Are they like you? Do you speak to them or spend time with them?"

Quinn bit her lip, nervously looking around the room. She wasn't sure if talking about them would be a good idea, she didn't want to lure them out. It was broad daylight though, so maybe it would be fine. Maybe. "They're… not like me, Rachel. I avoid them at all costs." Confusion flashed across Rachel's brown eyes before Quinn continued. "I call them Ombra; they're… demons, bad spirits, I guess. They're… terrifying," Quinn whispered, her voice choking on fear as she remembered her last encounter with them.

"Ombra," Rachel whispered. Quinn shook herself out of her thoughts as she looked into Rachel's eyes, listening. "Do they haunt you?"

Quinn swallowed the lump in her throat as she watched Rachel's eyes search for her own. She shook her head slightly, wincing at the burning in her chest at seeing the worry in Rachel's eyes. "Not haunt, hunt." Rachel gasped, and Quinn smiled bitterly. Good, this would scare her away. It had to. "Their single goal is to drag my spirit down to hell."

"Oh, Quinn" Rachel breathed, her hand reaching out to Quinn before she snapped it back in realization. Quinn's gaze moved from Rachel's hand, back to her eyes. Suddenly, Quinn was overwhelmed by the sympathy radiating off Rachel. Quinn wanted more. She wanted to drown her worries and her pain in Rachel's sympathy. She hadn't known any form of caring in years and now this girl - who really should be running - was sitting there, staring at her - through her - as if she cared about Quinn.

"They're horrible. They can turn into any shape and form; most of what they choose to turn into aren't things you'll ever even be able to comprehend." She watched Rachel bite her lip and nod for Quinn to continue. "I've gotten good at being able to judge when they're coming. I hide from them, and I pray… I pray until I can feel that they've left."

Rachel arched an eyebrow. "You pray?"

Quinn's head snapped up. "Of course I pray. There's nothing else I can do."

"And is it enough…?" Rachel asked, carefully.

Quinn was silent for a moment, studying Rachel's face, before whispering, "Sometimes. Sometimes they get in, anyway. They invade my mind, and…" she drops her voice even lower, and Rachel leans in closer to hear her, "and sometimes they win." Quinn scoffs lightly, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Sometimes I think they won years ago, and that this is hell and now they're just torturing me for fun."

Quinn wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her worn T-shirt, looking at Rachel. The blond's eyebrows rose as she saw tears in Rachel's eyes. "Are you okay?"

Rachel wiped her cheeks with shaky fingers as she nodded. "I had no idea, Quinn… that's… terrifying. I could never imagine-"

"And you never want to," Quinn interrupted harshly, "In fact, you should just leave now. You don't want to be a part of this hell. I told you to leave when you had the chance; well, you have no excuse now. Stop meddling in this, Rachel, you can't handle it."

Quinn groaned inwardly as Rachel's eyes blazed. "If you think I'm leaving you alone now, Quinn Fabray, you're out of your mind."

The blond's mouth sagged as she knit her brows together. "_I'm_ not the one who's out of her mind!"

"I have my doubts about that," Rachel said promptly before standing up and making her way into the kitchen.

Quinn gaped at the brunette's back as she hissed out, "For God's sake!" She lifted her eyes to the ceiling and gestured wildly towards the kitchen. "What are you trying to pull here? God, you're sick sometimes." Quinn got up and stomped off silently towards the kitchen when she heard the cabinets being tossed open and something about there not being any vegan friendly canned goods in the house. Quinn scrunched her face in confusion as she mumbled, "And what in the hell is a vegan?"

* * *

><p>Rachel made her way into her house later that night, absent mindedly dropping her coat onto her bed and kicking off her shoes. She had called all of the glee members that day before she had gone to Quinn's, in hopes that she could get everyone's schedules for the break and draw up one large, color-coded schedule for vocal practices. However, none of them had answered their phones.<p>

Rachel sat in her desk chair in the dark, flipping open her cell phone and wincing against the blue light that illuminated her face. She stared at the screen for a few more seconds before gently closing the phone again, turning, and setting it on her desk. No new messages. No one had returned her call that day. She shrugged to herself as she ran her fingers through her hair. Maybe they were all busy. It was, after all, only the first day of break. There was plenty of time for her fellow glee clubbers to get back to her. Rachel bit her lip as she got up and slid her sweater over her head, getting ready to change into her pajamas. Try as she might, she could not shake the nagging thought in the back of her mind that told her no one would call her back.

So be it, Rachel thought, as she buttoned up her yellow flannel pajamas. If her friends were going to be obstinate and not take their vocal lessons seriously, Rachel would just have to go to their houses one by one and diligently talk them into realizing how atrocious it really was to not train their voices ritualistically.

Rachel sat down at her computer and spent the next two hours diligently creating a Power Point. She highlighted each member specifically; reminding Puck on his slide that most famous Jewish singers had to put in hours a day on their vocals, reminding Santana that she could only vocally keep up with Brittany if she practiced for at least three hours a day, reminding Finn that while their breakup was difficult to handle, they were the captains and as such had to not let their dislike for each other taint team practices.

Rachel smiled at her finished product before shutting down and putting her laptop in her gold star carrying case. Tomorrow, she would make the rounds and encourage each member of the team to help her create the practice schedule for break. Rachel knew, she just knew, that once they had heard her out, they would want to help her get the team ready for sectionals.

However, when Rachel laid down in her bed that night, that voice in the back of her mind was still telling her that the team wouldn't want anything to do with her. Rachel groaned into her pillow. She hated that voice… She hated it because it was always right. That didn't mean Rachel wouldn't hope. These were her _friends_, and friends stuck together. They were a family now.

Rachel clung to that thought, smiling softly as she drifted off to sleep, wondering if Quinn ever sang like Rachel did. Could ghosts sing? She didn't see why not.


	4. Four

Deus Ex Machina [god in the machine]

* * *

><p>Rachel woke up with a start, her bangs plastered to her forehead from sweat and her heart racing. She jumped, her hands gripping her bed sheets as she sat up, whipping her gaze around the room. "What's going on?"<p>

"You needed to wake up," she heard from right next to her, causing the brunette to jump again.

"Quinn? What are you doing in my room? What's wrong?" Rachel asked, hastily throwing her sheets to the side as she stood up from her bed.

The brunette felt a cold slap of wind as her hair flew back from her face before she heard an eerie, "Do not move."

Rachel froze, her eyes widening in fear. "Quinn, you're scaring me."

"Good!" Quinn snapped, now from in front of Rachel's window, as the curtains flew open before closing again, as if she was looking outside. "You should be scared. You can't associate with me anymore, Rachel!"

Rachel raised her eyebrows, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath. "Excuse me? You can't just come into my private residence, wake me up, scare the -"

A panicked "shut up" was whispered into her ear as all of the hair on her arms stood up. Quinn was standing right behind her now, and Rachel's lips tingled as if the ghost actually had her hand over her mouth. "They can hear you. They can hear you breathe, and they can feel you shaking," Rachel listened as Quinn's words ran through her mind, her ear tingling where she imagined the ghost's lips were, "I can't let them find you. That's why I woke you up; they'll hunt you through your dreams. They know I told you about them. If we can just avoid them this _once_, then we'll be okay. If they just don't find you…"

Rachel focused her gaze on the window, listening intently for any noises. The Ombra were after her now? Her hands started to tremble as she realized how terrifying these spirits must be if they were hunting her so soon.

"Stop shaking," she heard running through her mind.

Rachel squeezed her eyes shut tightly as she focused on quietly thinking, can you hear my thoughts?

* * *

><p>Quinn watched the brunette's hands stop shaking, cocking her eyebrow as she quickly focused on sending more words to Rachel's mind. "And don't think either. Try to keep your mind blank; that shouldn't be a challenge for you."<p>

She stood behind Rachel, her arm wrapped around the brunette's torso and a hand covering her mouth. Quinn knew it was futile, that Rachel couldn't feel it, but it had been her automatic reaction to stop the brunette from getting them both caught; she saw no use in stopping now. It seemed to have work, anyway.

The room was near pitch black with the moon barely shining through the now closed curtains. Quinn watched the brunette's chest rise and fall steadily, her hands now completely still. Quinn had no idea what Rachel was thinking, but she knew that the second Rachel stopped panicking, that her thoughts would focus on trying to assess the situation and, God, even worse, actually _speak_ to Quinn.

Quinn tried to concentrate her thoughts on the movements of the Ombra. She could see them in her mind's eye; she could track their movements and stay off their radar if she kept her mind quiet enough. Of course, that was proving difficult when she had her arms around Rachel. Quinn bit her lip as she brought her lips back to Rachel's ear. "I'm going to let go of you, now. Stay absolutely quiet, and stay absolutely still. Force your mind to concentrate on pure blackness, nothing else."

* * *

><p>Rachel held her breath; so, her ghost did have her hand over her mouth. Interesting. Rachel filed that away for future thought and research before concentrating on focusing on a wall of blackness.<p>

After what felt like hours later, Rachel's bedside lamp clicked on. The brunette gasped in shock as she stumbled backward. "Quinn?"

"Sit down, Rachel. We need to have a little chat."

Rachel turned stoic as she sat down on the edge of the bed, the light from her lamp making her wince after focusing on darkness for so long. "If you think that you're going to yell at me for what happened here tonight, I'm here to inform you that you are sorely -"

"Rachel," the brunette heard from in front of her, and she could imagine that Quinn was standing there, scowling at her, "I'm not going to yell at you. This was my own damn fault, actually. I shouldn't have told you about them. I was just trying to scare you off."

Rachel looked away, trying to mask the fact that Quinn's statement hurt her. "When are you going to realize that I'm not going anywhere, Quinn? You can't scare me off."

"They almost got you!" Quinn shouted, making Rachel's hair whip back lightly, but not making Rachel flinch at all.

"May I point out that they didn't?" She heard Quinn sigh before she got a chill down her right side. Rachel turned her head to the right, assuming Quinn was sitting next to her now. "I'm sorry; I don't mean to be obstinate. It's just, you make it seem like every time that I'm around you, it's this huge sacrifice on your part, and like I'm somehow causing you a great deal of distress. You think of the most ridiculous excuses to get me to leave you alone that, when a legitimate one happens, I react the same way I did when you said that because I was annoying, I was lowering your chances of getting into Heaven. As if that has anything to do with-"

"Oh my God, shut up," Quinn barked out.

Rachel cocked an eyebrow. "Don't take that tone of voice with me, Quinn. And stop glaring at me too, for that matter." She heard Quinn sputter, and she smiled. "Please, with all of the exaggerated sighs you send my way and the rude tone of your voice most of the time, I'm willing to put money on the fact that you have a perpetual scowl on your face when you're around me."

She was met with silence. Rachel glanced down at her fidgeting hands in her lap, worrying that she'd made a mistake and maybe pushed her ghost too far before her thoughts were interrupted. "I don't want you to feel like that." Rachel raised an eyebrow in confusion. "I don't want you to feel like it's a sacrifice for me to talk to you."

"It's not?" Rachel questioned, hopefully.

"Well, it kind of is," Rachel's face dropped at the admittance before it was quickly followed up, "But not the way that you think it is. It's… complicated. You were never a part of my plan, Rachel."

Rachel laughed lightly, dropping her head and shrugging her shoulders. "I don't seem to be a part of anyone's plan."

"You didn't let me finish." Rachel raised her head and looked back in Quinn's general direction. "You wrote yourself into my plan, yes, but I don't want to write you out of it. Do I accept that you won't leave me alone? Yes. Do I still want you to? Sometimes. I'm slowly figuring out that I have to accept that you're here to stay. But what happened tonight cannot happen again."

Rachel's eyes roamed the air in front of her and for the first time, she wished more than anything that she could actually see Quinn. "Thank you, Quinn… I'm afraid that if you want to avoid a repeat of tonight's incident, you'll have to tell me more about your situation."

* * *

><p>Quinn sighed, casting an unseen glare at Rachel. She hated that the diva was right about this. Quinn had been terrified when she had sensed the Ombra heading for Rachel's house. She hadn't felt terror like that in… well, years. The ghost didn't think twice as she had blinked herself into Rachel's house and screamed into the girl's ear to wake up. She knew if she could get her to wake up, she could protect her. Why Quinn needed to protect her, and why she cared so much in the first place, was irrelevant. For the moment.<p>

She raised her eyes to meet Rachel's wandering gaze. The brunette had so much compassion and worry in her eyes that Quinn couldn't help but smile. Rachel really cared about Quinn, and it was nice. Still hard getting used to, but nice. And try as Quinn might, she cared about Rachel, too. On some level, Quinn knew that's what drove her to run to save her an hour before. It's also what was going to drive her to do what she was about to do. "Get comfortable. It's a long story."

Hazel eyes watched Rachel's face light up with unmasked relief as she propped herself against her pillows. Quinn opened her mouth to speak when Rachel interrupted her. "You may feel free to get comfortable yourself, Quinn. You could sit by me on the bed, here. My father's imported these pillows special for me and I must say, they're quite comfortable. I'm not sure if you can actually feel them but -"

Quinn groaned from her new spot next to Rachel, leaning against the "comfortable" pillows against her headboard. "Wonderful pillows, really. No, I can't feel them. Can I start my story now?"

Rachel bit her lip, hiding a smile Quinn guessed, as she nodded. "By all means."

Quinn took a steadying breath, wringing her hands in the lap of her faded, red McKinley High sweats. She didn't know what it meant that she was about to tell Rachel her story; but she knew that if she over thought it, she would panic and run. She needed to get her story out there. She highly doubted that she would be forced to move on to the "great beyond" at this point; telling Rachel would do nothing but possibly ease her soul. Quinn looked into Rachel's expectant eyes. Somehow she felt like she owed this to Rachel, like this was the time she was destined to tell Rachel her story. She couldn't explain why she felt this way, just that she did, so she took that as a sign. She was grasping at straws when it came to any sign she was given at that point.

"The year was 2000. I was the head Cheerio at McKinley, and I had it all," she scoffs, bitterly, "I was popular, the typical definition of beautiful, and I was dating the captain of the hockey team. It was October 24th, and my boyfriend and I were on the way to this ridiculously stupid pre-Halloween party at some idiot jock's house. I didn't want to go in the first place, but Michael - my boyfriend at the time - dragged me there anyway."

Quinn paused, taking in a deep breath in an attempt to steady her voice. It failed, however, and her voice wavered as she continued. "In the car on the way there, he started drinking a beer that I didn't even know he had in there. I hated it when he did that, and he knew it. I guess the whole thing was partly my fault, to be honest. We got into an argument over his drinking and the fact that I hated parties, yet he still dragged me to them. That was typical, for us; we were together for our reputations, nothing more. I demanded that he pull the car over so I could get out because I refused to drive with an alcoholic. We were on the main street, the one you can see from the park by my house, you know.

He was screaming at me, I was screaming at him, and I remember the radio was playing that stupid Lonestar _Amazed_ song. Michael lost control of the wheel when he was turning a corner and smashed into an electrical box by the stoplight."

Quinn sucked in another shaky breath. The irony of the fact that she didn't even need to breathe never escaped her. She chanced a glance at Rachel, and watched the girl desperately try to cover up the tears that were pouring from her eyes. "It's okay to cry," Quinn said, nonchalantly, "I cry, too, when I think about it." And it was true, Quinn thought, as she felt her own tears wet her face.

Rachel shook her head gently, staring deep into Quinn's eyes as if she knew exactly where she was looking. "Did it hurt?"

Quinn was silent for a long while after that question. She pulled her knees to her chest and stared off in the distance, mentally reliving the experience for the first time in years.

"Yes," she finally breathed out, her voice perfectly steady.

"Did you… die… almost instantly?" Rachel asked, her voice cracking on almost every syllable as she tried to speak through her tears. Her bangs hung in her eyes and her hands were shaking as she unconsciously reached her hand out to comfort Quinn. The ghost watched Rachel search the air in front of her with her gaze before sighing and drawing her hand back into her lap.

"I don't know," Quinn admitted, "I remember a few seconds of horrendous pain, and I heard Michael unbuckle his seatbelt and say something right before the entire car blew. I remember going through the windshield but not feeling it. It was only after a few minutes of standing on the street and watching the car burn before I realized something was… really wrong."

"You were already dead…"

"Yeah," Quinn choked out, staring at the window across from Rachel's room, "I realized there was no way I could have gotten out of the car before it blew, and there was no way I could have gone through the windshield and stand up, feeling fine. A few firefighters ran straight through me, and I got it."

* * *

><p>Rachel sat in stunned silence, the only noise coming from her being her labored breathing. She had tried as hard as she could to not cry, to not let Quinn see how much this whole thing was affecting her. But she had come so far! She never thought she'd be sitting on her bed, listening to her ghost tell her story. Quinn had gone silent; understandably so, Rachel thought.<p>

She perked up a bit when she heard Quinn speak again; almost missing it with how quietly her ghost was speaking at that point. "And then my parents came… and my mom…" Rachel moved her gaze from her lap to the wall across from her, her eyes widening as a dark realization slowly crept up from the back of her mind. Her breath hitched in her throat and her chest tightened up painfully as a memory came rushing back to her.

"Your mom… dropped to her knees in the middle of the street and screamed." Rachel slowly looked from the window to the space where Quinn was, chilled by the intense silence that blanketed the room like a tomb, after the words left her mouth.

"…How did you know that?" Quinn asked, her voice a terrified whisper.

Rachel's entire body was numb, and her brain barely registered the world outside of her bedroom at the moment. For Rachel, this was it. The crash she had witnessed when she was six years old, all of the times she couldn't bring herself to Google the victim's names, the vivid nightmares about the crash that she had been plagued with constantly for ten years… It was all build-up for this moment.

The brunette licked her lips, trying to bring some moisture back to her mouth. "Rachel," she heard from next to her, calmer this time, "how did you know that my mom did that after the crash?"

Rachel cocked her head to the right, staring through the wall in front of her and seeing everything from the crash in vivid reds and yellows. The way the fire burned and the way the heat from it radiated through the windows of the other cars on the street. She couldn't imagine the sort of pain Quinn had gone through… Rachel opened her mouth, ignoring Quinn's question as a result of being so deep in her own thoughts; "Do you think that it's possible to transfer a part of yourself to someone else in moments of extreme trauma?" she asked.

Rachel waited a few moments for Quinn to respond before turning to face the air next to her, looking expectant. A full minute of silence passed before Quinn answered, "You're legitimately insane, aren't you?"

Rachel slapped her palms onto the bed in front of her, sitting in a cross-legged position, and rolled her eyes. "Do you think that's possible, Quinn?"

"Seriously? I've been a ghost for ten years and you're asking me if I think something is possible? Anything is possible. Anything," Quinn answered, frustrated, "But you didn't answer my-"

"So, theoretically," Rachel pushed on over Quinn, "Say, someone witnesses someone else's moment of extreme trauma, and felt raw emotion because that person was at such a young age. Would it be possible if the victim of the trauma somehow transferred a part of themselves to the child witnessing it? Residual energy of some sort?"

Quinn let out a frustrated groan, and Rachel looked at her questioningly. "I'm not following your psycho babble, Berry. Would you _please_ make your point so you can answer my damn question?"

"I was there," Rachel rushed out, almost cutting Quinn off at the end of her sentence, "I saw the crash, Quinn."

* * *

><p>Impossible. Quinn stared at Rachel, hard. This girl had to be insane, she just had to be. There was no way she was at that crash. Maybe she really was a psychic and could read minds, and read Quinn's mind and that's how she knew about -<p>

"I know what you're thinking, Quinn. I am not reading your mind or doing something equally as impossible right now," Rachel began.

Quinn cut her off, laughing, "I'm sorry? Mind reading is impossible, but you witnessing the crash that killed me and me somehow transferring magical Quinn energy to you, isn't?"

Quinn cocked an eyebrow as Rachel set her jaw, slowly folding her arms over her chest. "Are you saying that I didn't see that crash, Quinn?"

"Yes."

"Are you calling me a liar, Quinn?"

Quinn thought for a moment before pursing her lips and shrugging. "Yes." There was no other explanation. She couldn't have been there. She couldn't have.

"Are you calling me crazy, Quinn?"

Quinn's eyes automatically jumped to Rachel's when she heard the tone of the question. Quinn gazed softly into Rachel's eyes, for once grateful of having the advantage of being invisible and being able to study anyone for as long as she wanted to. She noticed the hardness that Rachel was trying to convey, the false anger, but Quinn saw the fear in her dark eyes. There was a deeply rooted terror that shone through, and Quinn inwardly grimaced as she remembered what that idiot Finn had said to Rachel. Quinn sighed; what reason would Rachel have for making this up? For lying about something that was such a sensitive subject to Quinn? That would be out of character, and Rachel Berry was nothing if not constantly in character.

"No. Explain this to me, though. Explain to me how you were there."

Quinn watched Rachel nod before smiling softly. She took that as an unspoken "thank you" for not thinking Rachel was crazy. The brunette stretched her legs out in front of her, checking the time and shaking her head. "Five A.M, I'm going to be forced to skip my elliptical exercising in an hour."

"Rachel."

"Oh, right, pardon me. Well, ten years ago, when I was merely a child of six years, I was on my way home from my intermediate ballet class." Quinn scoffed; Rachel ignored her, continuing, "My father had picked me up, and I was in the backseat listening to him and daddy arguing on the phone over what to have for dinner. They had stopped traffic after the initial crash, I suppose. We were the second car back, and we had a clear view of yours… And then…," Rachel paused, losing herself in her thoughts again, "it exploded. The fire was incredible; at the time I didn't know something could get so big.

"It hurt, though… I was terrified. I could feel the heat from it coming through the windows of the car. I wanted to know who was in the car, and if they had gotten out. Somehow… I knew they hadn't. Well, I knew you hadn't. I remember I had started crying at some point, and my chest hurt really, really bad, like something had been ripped out of it. My father tried to talk to me, to calm me down, but there was nothing he could have done. I saw, whom I correctly assumed at the time to be, your parents. Your father seemed upset, understandably so, but not as upset as your mother. I remember… I saw the exact moment when realization struck her, it just…" Rachel made a gesture in the air, "It just crossed over her face and it physically hurt to watch. She dropped onto her knees and practically shrieked. It was one of the worst sounds I've ever heard in my life. At that point we were being ushered on to drive by so they could close off the roads and clean everything up…"

Quinn had not taken her eyes off Rachel once during the story; she had the intent to watch her eyes to make sure she wasn't lying, but in the end, Quinn was fascinated with the emotions that had crossed Rachel's features. This story wasn't something that Rachel just remembered; this was something that Rachel thought about constantly.

"Do you ever have nightmares about it?" Quinn asked quietly.

Rachel nodded slowly. "I do. At least once every couple of months."

"For the past ten years?" Quinn asked, in shock.

Rachel smiled softly. "For the past ten years. Do you see now? Do you understand why I thought a part of you had been transferred to me? I know it seems stupid but it makes sense, doesn't it? The reason why I found you, why I'm the only one who can hear you! Doesn't there seem to be some sort of irrevocable connection?"

The blond leaned her head back, cracking and rubbing her neck as she closed her eyes. She never thought ghosts could get headaches, until she met Rachel. "I don't know, all right? I'm still trying to process the fact that you basically watched me die."

"So, you believe me then?"

"Of course I believe you," Quinn bit out, not seeing Rachel's teary eyes, "Why wouldn't I?"

Quinn opened her eyes and saw Rachel quickly brush some tears away. "It's just nice to have someone believe me for once, believe in me and not think I'm just some crazy girl."

Quinn cocked an eyebrow, casting a quick glance at the beginning of a few sunrays peaking in through the curtains. "If anyone should be grateful for someone believing in them, it should be me, Rachel." Quinn couldn't help but smile back as Rachel opened her mouth and smiled fully in her direction. God, she was going soft.

* * *

><p>Rachel sat in her desk chair, pushing herself from side to side with the toe of her black pair of Converse. Well, her only pair of Converse. She had her laptop in its case and sitting on her lap. Despite the life-changing experience she had with Quinn mere hours ago, Rachel still had to push on with her plan of contacting all of her friends via her PowerPoint. She pressed her phone against her ear as the ringing finally stopped and a very annoyed Mercedes answered the phone. "How many times does it have to ring before you realize I'm not going to pick up?"<p>

Rachel's lips formed a straight line as she furrowed her brow in thought. "But, Mercedes, you _did_ pick up. After the fifty-seventh ring, to be exact. May I inquire as to why you don't have a voicemail recording? I thought that it was standard practice-"

"What in the hell do you want?" Mercedes snapped through the phone, cutting Rachel off. The brunette dropped her head, closing her eyes and taking a steadying breath.

"I was calling because today I've made it my mission," she pushed on, ignoring Mercedes' rude groan of exasperation, "to go around to each of my fellow gleek's residences and show then PowerPoint I made that explains why each member needs to keep up with their vocal exercises over break."

Rachel listened to the silence from the other end for a minute before asking, "Mercedes? Are you still there? Did you hear me?"

"Unfortunately. I wouldn't suggest doing that, Rachel, okay? No one's going to wanna see your face over break, much less hear you babbling on about how ya want them to practice so they can be better."

Rachel shook her head. "N-no, no, Mercedes, that's not at all why I was doing-"

"And I know I'm speaking for everyone when I say, we aren't going to practice over break. This is our break. From you. Go enjoy your break by yourself, get some rest and take some chill pills. Just take a breather, Rachel, but don't come knockin' on our doors and expect a response." Rachel heard the click signaling she'd been hung up on. She pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it in disbelief.

"What does she know," Rachel mumbled, briskly closing her phone and putting it in her jacket pocket. She stood up with her laptop case, smoothed out her skirt, and sucked in a deep breath. "They're my friends. They'll appreciate what I'm trying to do for them." Rachel left her room and set off into the snow, her laptop case clutched tightly to her chest.

* * *

><p>Two hours later, only Tina had opened the door for Rachel, and that was only because Mike had been there and had made her because of how cold it was. Santana had openly laughed at Rachel through her door, and Brittany had yelled through the same door that she wasn't there with Santana, either. Kurt refused to acknowledge Rachel's knocking, even though she did it for ten minutes straight. When she had knocked on Puck's door, she heard Lauren yelling from inside, and even Rachel had enough good sense in her to know when to run from a potential fight.<p>

"Listen Rachel, I'm sure you have the best intentions at heart, but we don't want to sing over break. Just go home and get warm, you look like you're freezing," Tina said, sympathetically, shutting the door on Rachel.

The small brunette stood on Tina's doorstep, closing her eyes and sighing dejectedly as she heard the lock click into place. She turned and slowly made her way down the steps, her shoes crunching on the snow. Rachel bit her lip and pretended that the tears coming from her eyes were from the freezing winds, and nothing else.

"You need to go home." Rachel hardly flinched as she trekked up the street against the harsh winds.

"No," Rachel responded resolutely. Her arms were on fire from carrying around her laptop for miles, and her entire body was numb and stinging, but she wouldn't stop.

"This is insane, you need to get home. You're going to catch pneumonia."

"I'm not stopping, Quinn."

"You'll stop soon enough when you freeze over. If the first seven didn't let you in, what makes you think the rest will? And why in the hell are you walking? Why didn't you have your dad drive you?"

Rachel sighed heavily, it falling on deaf ears as the wind carried it away before Quinn heard it. "This is exactly why I didn't have my father drive me. He would have seen that no one opened the door for me, and… I don't want them to know…"

"That your friends are ignorant idiots?"

"That I don't have friends," Rachel corrected Quinn, trudging through the snow.

Rachel was met with silence as she continued walking. Her body was numb, so she couldn't have felt the electric spark that Quinn's presence gave her if she wanted to. After a few minutes of walking, curiosity got the best of her. "Are you still here?"

"Yes."

Rachel smiled softly, her tears slowing down. "Why?"

"I'm nervous from what happened last night. I want to make sure you're okay."

Rachel knew that wasn't the whole truth. "So, have you been stalking me or can you track people with your mind?"

She heard an annoyed scoff from next to her. "Neither. I blinked myself to you."

Rachel scrunched up her face and shot a look in Quinn's direction. "Pardon?"

She smiled as she heard another annoyed sigh. "If I can visualize something or someone clearly enough, I can get myself there. I don't know how else to explain it. I just close my eyes and open them again, and I'm there. Not that you need to know that."

Rachel paused on the sidewalk, her hair whipping across her face from the wind, as she asked, "You can visualize me clear enough to do that?"

Her eyes scanned the area in front of her, back and forth; as the silence drowned on, Rachel's smile got wider. "I'm beginning to think you like spending time with me, Quinn." Rachel ignored the sputtering she heard behind her as turned a street corner and headed in the direction of the cherry tree. "I'll head home, but don't think that I've given up on my mission, Quinn. These people are my friends, I'll show you."

* * *

><p>Quinn sat at her kitchen table watching the snow fall outside as she sipped her coffee. "God, that psychotic little midget. It's got to be below ten degrees out there."<p>

"Actually," Quinn heard from the hallway, "It's eleven degrees. Can you not feel heat or the absence of?"

Quinn jumped, her coffee cup knocking over and disappearing on contact with the table. "What in the _hell_ are you thinking? You can't just - wait, I thought you were going home?"

The blond watched Rachel purse her lips as she shrugged out of her jacket, saying, "Did I say that? I must have been so delusional from the cold," as she draped it across the back of a kitchen chair.

Quinn rolled her eyes as she stood and laid her hands flat on the table. "I'm sure your dads are worried about you."

"I called them, actually," Rachel said through a smile as she held up her phone, "They just told me to be safe."

"So, you come to the hell house," Quinn muttered, raising her head to shoot Rachel an unbelieving look, "Well, what the hell am I supposed to do with you?"

"I was thinking a question and answer session."

"No!" Quinn shot back immediately as she shook her head, "Why would I - No, just go home, Rachel."

"Just ten questions, Quinn," Rachel begged, "We've come too far, now. We can't go back to this cat and mouse game now… Please. Just ten questions."

Quinn crossed her arms over her chest. No. Absolutely not. Why should she? She gave Rachel her entire death story. No way was she getting anymore than that.

* * *

><p>Quinn seethed as she sat on the couch with her arms crossed tightly over her chest. She glared daggers at the black Converse that were - unknowingly to the shoe wearer herself - "touching" Quinn's white flats on legs that were crossed Indian-style on the couch. Rachel was sitting close enough that Quinn could see Rachel's breath when she spoke from the affect Quinn had on the air.<p>

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"… So, you were sixteen when you died?"

"Yes."

"Which would make you twenty-six now-"

"No. I'm sixteen." Quinn watched Rachel open her mouth to argue. "Rachel," she snapped, cutting her off, "I'm sixteen. Next question."

"Fine. How tall are you?"

Quinn cocked an eyebrow as she blinked a few times. "Uhm," she began, looking down her body before shrugging again, "I'd guess 5'6". Why?"

"I would like to be able to accurately speak with you, and I would rather not be staring at say, your chest, the entire time," Rachel mumbled, and Quinn couldn't help but grin in amusement at the blush rising on Rachel's cheeks.

"Next question or do you need a moment?"

Rachel glared at Quinn, and the blond sucked in a quiet breath as Rachel met her eyes. Maybe she shouldn't have told Rachel her height.

"What color are your eyes?"

Quinn paused, furrowing her brows, before she open and closed her mouth repeatedly as she tried to figure out why her words were caught in her throat. "Why," Quinn managed after a moment, clearing her throat, "why do you want to know that?"

Rachel raised her eyebrows. "Why wouldn't I, Quinn? After all of the interaction and struggling to get to this point, I believe it's only fair that I get to see you. Apparently, you know me well enough to transport yourself to me. Which is another thing that I wish to talk about with you, it seems you have amazing ghost powers and I'd be incredibly-"

Quinn slapped her palms down on her thighs as she ground out, "I'll show you if you'll shut up."

The brunette's mouth snapped shut as a satisfied smile tugged at her lips. "All right."

"Follow me," Quinn grudgingly said as she got up off the couch. She made her way down the hall before pausing at the bottom of the steps. Quinn turned back to Rachel, her teeth sinking into her lip as she desperately tried to not laugh; she watched the brunette wander around the hall and cautiously peering into rooms.

"I hope you realize that I cannot see you," Rachel breathed out in an annoyed humph.

"What, you're not up for a game of Marco Pollo?" Quinn asked in an amused tone as she leaned against the stairway banister.

She watched Rachel's head whip towards her direction as the brunette raised an eyebrow and threw a charming smile at Quinn. "I refused to play anything but Rachel Berry as a child."

Quinn rolled her eyes as her lips pursed of their own accord; she scrutinized the brunette as she strode up to her and took in a breath. "Are we going upstairs?"

Quinn nodded before letting out a frustrated breath. She had to stop doing things that Rachel couldn't see. "Yep. Do we need to play Rachel Berry or will you be able to keep up?"

Rachel glared in Quinn's direction as she stomped her shoe on the tan carpet. "I do not find you to be amusing, Quinn. But if you wouldn't mind, could you turn on the lights as you go so I can follow you easier?"

Quinn's flats were noiseless as she walked upstairs, her fingers ghosting over the handrail; Rachel's a second behind. The ghost gave Rachel no response, but as soon as she reached the top of the stairs Quinn made the overhead hall light come on. She heard a soft chuckle behind her as she moved through the hallway, turning right at the last (and second) door on the right. Quinn paused in the doorway as her eyes slowly roamed the room. There were no cobwebs and dust in the house; Quinn made sure to do her part. She could sweep. It had taken her a year but she figured out how to manipulate the air enough to "sweep" the house, and so she did, once a month.

Quinn heard Rachel come to a stop in the hallway behind her; that snapped Quinn out of her thoughts as she used her mind to turn the light on. The ceiling lamp illuminated a light purple room with walls adorned with pictures and trophies. There was a bed off to one side with a dozen stuffed animals placed lovingly on it. On the wall opposite the trophy wall stood the wall lined with pictures. Pictures of Quinn.

Quinn turned her head slightly to the right as she heard a quiet intake of breath from next to her as Rachel stepped into the room. "Was this your room?"

Quinn shook her head. "Not really. This whole house was my aunt and uncle's, and this was the guest room that I used to stay in when I was here. I did stay here a lot, though. They made it into this after I… died. My aunt calls it the "memory room."

Rachel moved forward, seemingly pulled by an outside force, as she headed to the end of the picture wall, to the most current pictures. Quinn scoffed. Most current pictures? The _last_ pictures.

* * *

><p>Rachel quietly took in the room as she walked through. It wasn't quite a shrine; it was just as Quinn's aunt called it, a memory room. A room full of memories, indeed, Rachel thought. She immediately gravitated toward the picture wall. Focused eyes walked past baby pictures of Quinn, past family trips, past everything until she reached Quinn's senior pictures.<p>

Quinn Fabray was written in gold script at the bottom of the picture. Quinn Fabray. Rachel never knew that putting a face to a name could make the entire world fall into place. Her hand shook as she brought it up to touch the glass of the frame. Her fingers traced Quinn's golden blond hair that fell over her shoulders in curls. Rachel chewed on her lip as she looked into the most intense eyes she'd ever seen. She couldn't tell if they were hazel or green, but she assumed that they probably changed depending on Quinn's mood. Quinn.

Rachel turned back towards the doorway while keeping her fingers pressed against the glass of the picture. "How long was this taken before…?"

"One month."

The brunette could now imagine Quinn, leaning against the doorway watching Rachel with her arms folded across her chest, staring at her with those eyes. Rachel shook her head lightly. No, she shouldn't be having thoughts like that. Rachel didn't get into sexuality details - her motto was you love who you love and that's that - but she did get into life and death details, and falling for a ghost was definitely not on her to-do list. She had to admit, though…

"You're gorgeous," Rachel breathed out, smiling in Quinn's direction, "I imagine you look like you did here?"

The room was silent for a moment before Rachel heard Quinn's voice. "I don't know. I haven't been able to see my own reflection in over ten years."

Rachel groaned inwardly. How insensitive of her. Of course Quinn wouldn't be able to. "But if it matters, my body has stayed the same. I can see myself; I just… can't see anything from a mirror."

Rachel cocked her head to the side, inquisitively. "So, you can see your own form, your hands… your legs… your outfit, you just can't see your own reflection?"

"Yes."

Rachel licked her lips as she lost herself in thought. "Interesting… I'll have to research that later." After another minute of silence, Rachel looked back to the picture as she let a small smile grace her features. "This is why you didn't want me to call you twenty-six, right? I imagine you haven't changed, Quinn. In fact, I'm willing to bet it. You would still in fact be sixteen."

"That was only three questions."

The brunette tore her gaze away from Quinn's picture as she turned towards the actual girl. "I don't need anything else from you today, Quinn. Thank you for sharing what you did…"

"Did you imagine me looking different or something? You looked shocked when you saw me," Rachel heard from the doorway.

Rachel paused. She had never even been able to accurately picture Quinn. She had never really even put a face to the name; she had always just pictured Quinn as something familiar. It was hard to put into words, or thoughts, the brunette acknowledged to herself. "No, I never… imagined you, to be honest. In my mind you were always just associated with something familiar. You know when you dream about someone, and in your dream you just accept that the person you're dreaming of is someone familiar and comfortable, and you accept that they don't need a face or a name because you just _know_ them. That's how I pictured you."

Rachel listened patiently for Quinn to respond; turning her attention back to the pictures on the wall, she began scanning the pictures of Quinn with her family and Quinn cheerleading. She paused in front of one where Quinn was holding a trophy in her hands and Coach Sylvester's arm wrapped around her, both smiling brightly.

"She never used to be as crazy as she is now," Rachel heard from next to her, "But after I died she kind of… lost it. I was like a daughter to her, and sometimes she was more of a mom to me than my own mom was."

Rachel's eyes widened in shock. "That's incredible… I would have never guessed."

She felt the hair on her left side stand up and the familiar shot of electricity shoot through her; Quinn was standing close. "That must have been incredibly hard for you to watch," Rachel mused, quietly.

"You have no idea."

"And your parents," Rachel began hesitantly, "are they-"

"I think that's enough questions for one day, Rachel. Don't you need to get home?"

Rachel nodded her head softly; opening her mouth to speak, she was interrupted by a knock on the front door downstairs. The house immediately went dark and the only noise was the wind howling as the blizzard continued. Rachel looked horrified as she heard a hurried "stay in here" whispered in her ear before her body stopped tingling, signaling Quinn's departure. Oh God, Rachel thought, who was there?


	5. Five

Deus Ex Machina [god in the machine]

* * *

><p>Quinn blinked herself downstairs in an instant; she was thankful it was still daylight, otherwise the entire house would have been flooded with lights, making the fact that someone was there a lot more obvious. The blond stretched up and looked through the peephole on the door. "Oh, shit," Quinn breathed out, pushing herself off the door and quickly glancing behind her. "I told you to wait upstairs," Quinn whispered, momentarily forgetting that only Rachel could hear her.<p>

"I didn't want you going alone," Rachel whispered back as she made her way down the hall, knowing she could be heard, "Who is it?"

"Your idiot ex-boyfriend," Quinn said back, her tone bitter, "He's with some other moron out there; look and see for yourself and then explain to me how he found you here."

Rachel lowered her head in contempt as she walked by Quinn, accidentally brushing their hands together, as she made her way to the door. Quinn's lips parted in a silent gasp as she watched Rachel pause and turn to look back at her with a soft smile. "Can you feel that like I can?"

Quinn blinked in shock as she cocked her head to the side. "You can feel me…?"

The brunette somehow met Quinn's eyes and nodded, adding, "I can feel when you enter a room, sit or stand near me, and when you touch me somehow. Can you feel me?" Rachel asked, hopefully.

After a moment of hesitation, Quinn lied, "No."

The girl's eyes met for an instant - always unknown to Rachel, Quinn thought in amusement - before their thoughts were interrupted by another knock on the door. Rachel calmly turned away from the ghost and made her way to the door. Quinn let out a long sigh as her eyes slid closed the moment the brunette opened the door.

"Finn… Noah, what are you two doing here?" Quinn heard Rachel ask from her spot behind the door. She moved to stand right behind Rachel in curiosity.

Finn was wearing what Quinn could only best describe to be a gassy infant look, and the other guy with Finn was staring at Rachel with sympathetic eyes.

"I could ask you the same thing, Rachel," Finn began, bringing his eyes up to roam the house over Rachel's head, "Puck says the Fabrays are out of town."

Quinn gulped silently as she turned to fully face Rachel. She's good at keeping her calm, Quinn thought, as she watched the girl not break her façade once. "They are indeed, Finn. Ever since Puck told me that this house is rumored to be haunted, I did some research and found that vandals often come in here whilst the Fabrays are away. I decided to do some house-sitting for them."

Quinn turned and faced Finn to judge his reaction to the lie. Her heart dropped as she saw him shaking his head. "No, Rachel… You've been visiting this house for weeks because you think the "ghost" is here. I've watched you sitting in here talking to yourself…"

Quinn's eyes widened, mimicking Rachel's actions, as the brunette hastily shook her head. "You're mistaken, Finn," she rambled out when she saw the direction that the situation was heading in. Quinn knew there was no point in Rachel trying to make Finn believe the truth; he wouldn't believe her, hell, most sane people wouldn't believe Rachel.

"You need help, Rachel, okay? I'm going to help you. I love you, so I'm going to help you," Finn cooed. Quinn felt a slow panic build up within her as she watched Puck push off the pillar by the porch and make his way next to Finn. "Just come with us, Rachel."

Quinn saw the panic in Rachel's eyes as the brunette took a step backwards; her Converse stepping through Quinn's flats as the brunette stepped straight into Quinn's arms and for the first time, Quinn didn't care that she was being walked through. "Run," Quinn yelled into Rachel's mind as the smaller girl turned and made a beeline for the staircase.

Ten steps. Quinn counted; Rachel made it ten steps before Finn picked her up and slung her over his shoulder like she was nothing more than a sack of potatoes.

* * *

><p>Rachel felt her feet leave the ground and the wind leave her lungs as Finn threw her over his shoulder. "It'll be okay, Rachel," Finn said to her as he made his way out of the house.<p>

"Rachel! Fight! You can't let him take you," she heard Quinn screaming into her ear. Rachel knew Quinn was right; she knew Finn and Puck were going to take her somewhere for counseling, or worse, to the psychiatric ward.

"You need help, Rachel; I'm only here to help."

"Please, Rachel, fight it. Run. Don't listen to them! You're not crazy!"

"I'm not saying you're crazy, I'm just… well, maybe you are, but just a little."

"God so help me, Rachel, don't let them do this. Don't let them talk you into believing you're crazy."

Rachel heard Finn and Quinn go back and forth; Finn's words were mumbled and terrifying as he held her against him, forbidden her from moving, whereas Quinn's words were frantic but comforting, giving Rachel hope that she would be okay.

"Finn, what you and Noah are doing right now is incredibly illegal. I highly suggest that you put me down right this instant. It's snowing, it's cold, and I am not in the mood to deal with this. Besides, Noah, I thought you were with Lauren at your house," Rachel lectured, desperately trying to fight Finn's grasp.

Puck pursed his lips as he kicked at a rock as they walked towards his truck in the Fabray driveway. "She got pissed at me and bailed. She's a hard chick to tame."

Rachel rolled her eyes as she tried to keep her cool. "Noah, please, you see the madness behind what Finn is pulling here, don't you?"

As Puck unlocked the passenger door to his truck and kicked down the seat to give access to the backseat, he caught Rachel's eye, and mumbled, "Yeah, Rach, I do. But I also think my boy Finn here has a point. You're sitting in some house, by yourself, interacting with yourself… that's a whole new level of crazy, even for you."

Rachel bit her lip as she realized she was trying to argue with two brick walls. She allowed Finn to get her in the backseat of Puck's truck and then put himself in the passenger side. The truck roared to life as Puck steered them, much to Rachel's horror, towards Lima's major hospital. The brunette let out a quiet sigh. She knew the boys were only trying to help her. Granted, they had been spying on her for some time, apparently, and thought she was legitimately crazy. Why was it so hard for people to believe in something that they couldn't see? Why did no one have faith in anything anymore?

Rachel laid her forehead against the cool glass of the window as she crossed her arms over her chest. She hadn't had a chance to grab her jacket when she had been "escorted" out; she hoped Quinn would be able to hide it if necessary. Quinn. Rachel paused as the left side of her body began to tingle. Not lifting her forehead from the glass, Rachel smiled softly, whispering, "What are you doing here?"

"I thought this would be more entertaining than a movie."

Rachel watched the Lima suburbs fly by outside of the window as she laughed lightly, "But those horror movies that you love to watch are on today."

"The one about the girl being shipped off to the asylum isn't on until next week and I couldn't contain my anticipation," Rachel heard Quinn say from right next to her, not missing a beat.

"You care about me," Rachel stated softly, finally turning to face the other side of the backseat.

Puck drove on, mindlessly chatting with Finn about football statistics, completely unaware of their fourth passenger. It was only after five minutes before Rachel heard a response from Quinn. "I don't think I'd be here otherwise."

* * *

><p>Rachel stood with her hands on her hips, the sun setting behind her cast a red glow through the glass doors of the ER entrance, as she frowned at the woman behind the counter. "I hope by now you've realized what a horrendous mistake has been made here," she chided, "and I must ask you to tell these two imbeciles to take me home now."<p>

The nurse behind the counter pinched the bridge of her nose under her glasses as she let out a ragged sigh. "All right, listen," she began, "it was illegal for them to bring you here against your wishes, yes. They also brought you to the wrong location; this is the ER, not the psyche ward. But if what they're saying is true, maybe you should just follow this hallway to the left and -"

"Excuse me," a strong voice called out, cutting off the nurse, "but what in the hell is going on here?"

Rachel turned away from the counter as Finn and Puck let out a groan, simultaneously dropping their hold on Rachel's arms, but the chill against Rachel's back didn't disappear. "Dads," Rachel sighed in relief.

Hiram and Leroy hastily made their way through the ER doors, snow free, before they rushed up to the counter. Rachel noted that the storm outside had passed, but now it was time to deal with the storm inside.

"We got your text," Hiram rushed out as he wrapped his arm around his daughter and sent a glare to Finn.

Rachel looked baffled as she quickly searched her skirt pockets for her phone. She paused; she'd left her phone in Puck's truck and most certainly hadn't sent her fathers any text. Rachel turned slightly to the side as she heard a low chuckle hang in the air. A small laugh escaped the brunette as she shook her head.

"Rachel," Leroy asked, "what is going on here? Why are you here? Are you hurt?"

"No, daddy, I'm not hurt. Puck and Finn physically dragged me here from Quinn's house," Rachel calmly explained.

Finn muttered an "oh my God" at hearing Rachel's explanation, and Puck just looked shocked.

Hiram cocked an eyebrow and turned to the boys. "Do you have something to say about my daughter, Finn?" he asked, standing a good foot below the quarterback.

Despite the height difference, Finn cowered, backing away and shaking his head. "No sir," he mumbled.

Leroy hadn't taken his eyes off his daughter. Rachel watched Hiram turn from Finn and speak to the nurse at the counter to get the full story.

"You sent them a text via my phone, Quinn, really?" Rachel questioned, trying to speak from the corner of her mouth while most attention was diverted off her.

"No," she heard whispered back into her ear.

Rachel rolled her eyes and huffed. "I'm not a moron, I'll have you know, and I'm smart enough to-"

"Not send them a text yourself?" she heard shot back at her, her ghost's tone laced with amusement.

"Point taken," Rachel muttered, casting quick glances at Finn and Hiram to make sure all attention was still off of her, "but I didn't know that you were able to text on a phone."

Quinn was silent for a moment before she responded to Rachel, saying, "I didn't know that I could, either. It took a lot out of me. Next time, don't be a moron and save your own ass. You're just lucky that I had nothing better to do."

Rachel bit her lip and rolled her eyes before gasping quietly as she met eyes with Leroy, who had been watching her the whole time. Talking to herself; or so it seemed.

She stood stock still, staring in shock at the larger man in front of her. The brunette heard a whispered "oh, God; oh, shit" before the electricity in her bones and the chill on her back disappeared. Quinn had left.

Rachel snapped out of her reverie as Hiram laid a soft hand on her shoulder, mumbling, "It's been settled, Rachel, and now we're going home. Tell these _considerate_ morons good bye."

The brunette turned to Finn and Puck, who were standing by the counter looking guilty and disheveled, and shook her head. She didn't spare them another glance as she followed her fathers out of the hospital and towards their car in the parking lot. She took a breath as she tried to steady herself; the worst was yet to come, she thought, and she dreaded going home.

* * *

><p>"Have a seat at the table, Rachel," Leroy commanded as the family walked through the front door. Rachel froze in the hallway, her back to her fathers, as Hiram shot Leroy a confused look.<p>

The tiny diva puffed out her chest as she made her way to the kitchen table before sitting down. "I am fully aware of what you're thinking, daddy," Rachel began.

Leroy held his hand up to silence her as he and Hiram took the seats opposite her at the table. "No, you're not, Rachel. I saw something today at the hospital that intrigued me," Leroy stated, turning to Hiram, "and you missed it, honey. I saw Rachel speak with Quinn while you were speaking with the nurse."

Hiram blinked at Leroy behind his glasses, sending his husband a subtly confused look, before turning to Rachel. "Quinn was with you in the ER?"

Rachel gaped at Leroy. "Daddy, I honestly cannot tell whether you believe me to be insane or not," Rachel said, almost desperately, "and it's terrifying me."

"Rachel," Leroy began.

"If you would just take a moment to consider the notion that I'm not utterly-"

"Rachel," Leroy tried to cut in.

"And completely insane," Rachel continued, barreling over the man in a mild panic, "then I think you could see-"

"Sweetie," Hiram added, trying to shut Rachel up.

"That talking to a spirit is not-"

"Rachel!" both men yelled, catching the brunette's attention.

Leroy nodded his thanks to his husband before shaking his head at his daughter. "We need to meet her," he stated, looking towards Hiram for support.

The shorter man nodded his head as he reached over and squeezed his husband's hand. "Yes, Rachel, we want to believe you and…for the most part, we do. However, we don't think it's asking much to be able to meet Quinn. Is she here now?"

Rachel gaped before laughing nervously. "I'm sorry, but are you honestly asking me to bring my ghost home so you can meet her?"

Leroy raised a dark eyebrow as he released Hiram's hand and folded his large arms over his chest. "We have strict rules here, Rachel. We made you bring Finn home," he stated, ignoring Rachel's incoherent sputters of astonishment, "and Puckerman too, for that matter. I think that it's only proper that we meet the girl you've been spending so much time with."

Rachel sat with her mouth agape in shock, sputtering out, "You are aware that I am not _dating_ my spirit, right, daddy?"

Leroy shook his head, biting back a smile as Hiram squeezed his knee secretly. "That's irrelevant, Rachel. We want to meet her. Can you call her here?"

* * *

><p>Quinn sat at her kitchen table in pure darkness; now dressed in a white sundress and a red cardigan with her fingers nervously drumming together on the tabletop. Her first four fingers drummed against the palm of her left hand as she shook her head. Staring off into space in thought, Quinn sighed in exasperation as she closed her eyes.<p>

What was she _doing_? First, she tells Rachel about the Ombra. Then, she tells the girl her damn life story. Finally, she allows herself to care about her to the extent of playing hero and getting Rachel saved. Twice.

Where was this getting her? Where would this road lead her if she continued to follow Rachel down it? Nowhere, Quinn thought, answering her own question. She would just end up caring more about Rachel, and eventually Rachel would leave her. Eventually Rachel would leave Lima, and Quinn wouldn't be able to follow her. Not with this stupid curse and -

"Damn it!" Quinn shouted, "Why would I want to follow her? What is it that draws me to her?" Quinn sighed again, staring into the blackness of her kitchen. What if Quinn had given a piece of herself to Rachel the night of the crash? What if Rachel had given Quinn a piece of herself? What if there was something more there?

Quinn paused. What if there was something more there…? Quinn slowly raised her gaze from the darkness of her kitchen to the bright moon in her window. What if Rachel thought of her as more than just a ghost? As more than just something that should be feared or studied. What if -

"Quinn!" Quinn snapped her gaze forward as she pushed herself out of the chair.

"What?" Quinn questioned the empty kitchen, "Rachel?"

"Quinn!" the ghost heard again. Her head whipped around the empty space as she ignited the kitchen lights. Nothing. Rachel wasn't in the house.

Quinn seethed. "Oh what the hell," she mumbled, "if she thinks she can just beckon me like some damn-"

"Quinn!"

"What?" Quinn screamed, suddenly standing in the middle of the brightly lit Berry kitchen in front of Rachel.

The brunette teetered backwards in surprise before steadying herself and grinning. Leroy and Hiram sat in their same spots at the table, mouths agape after seeing their daughter's hair whip back from a seemingly imaginary burst of wind.

Quinn froze. She watched Rachel's grin instantly falter as she felt the tension radiating off Quinn. "Rachel," Quinn whispered, "what in the hell is this?"

"My fathers needed to meet you, Quinn," Rachel whispered back, "They said they needed to meet the girl that I've been spending so much time with." Quinn's eyes widened. "I think they also needed this so they can believe me about you-"

Quinn turned to face the two men she had seen in the hospital. "Hello," she said clearly, pausing and waiting, judging their reactions. When the men showed no signs of hearing her, Quinn turned back to Rachel, eyebrows raised. "Oh yeah, that's right, _you're_ the only person who can hear me, Rachel, unless you've forgotten. How am I supposed to "meet your parents"," Quinn air quoted, "when they can't hear me?"

"Quinn, please, calm down," Rachel urged.

"Calm down?" Quinn shouted, "Why should I calm down, Rachel? Do you not understand that I'm not used to dealing with people? Yet, you managed to call me here to meet your fucking dads!" Quinn yelled, balling her fists at her sides while seething with anger.

The ghost met Rachel's gaze in time to see the brunettes eyes turn dangerous as she planted her hands on her hips. "Quinn Fabray," Rachel started, "I don't care _how_ angry you are with me; you do not use that word around me. Now, if you'll give me a chance to explain, I'll try to soothe your anger. Unless you wanted to yell some more and see if maybe you can knock some things off of the shelves while you're at it."

Quinn stood in shock as she was struck speechless. Unfortunately, Rachel took that as a sign to keep speaking for some unknown reason; Quinn was beginning to think the brunette just never _stopped_ speaking. "My fathers needed to meet you," Rachel started, her voice strong before she lowered it so only Quinn could hear her, "Please…. I need you to prove your existence to someone else so they don't think I'm crazy, Quinn. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to just drag you here; in all honesty, I was hoping just calling you wouldn't work and that I could speak to you one-on-one before-"

"Rachel," Quinn interrupted, throwing a glance back at Rachel's poor dads, before continuing, "I'll do it. But this is the last thing that I'm doing for you, got it?"

The blond caught the flicker of affliction in Rachel's eyes before the brunette steeled her shoulders and nodded. "Deal."

* * *

><p>Rachel turned to her fathers and felt a pang of sympathy as they sat, holding hands, in complete bewilderment. Leroy was the first to open his mouth and stutter out, "I take it Quinn's here?"<p>

"Yes, daddy," Rachel said, moving forward slowly until she felt a familiar electrical tingling on her right side, "but you must understand that this isn't easy for her. I'm the only person who can hear her."

Leroy stood up to his full height of 6'2" and Rachel cringed as she felt Quinn move closer to her. "Be careful, daddy," Rachel cautioned.

Leroy hesitantly approached the space next to Rachel, and it took everything Rachel had to not burst out laughing at the sight of her incredibly large father shaking in his boots as he approached a seemingly empty section of the room.

Just as Leroy was about to take a step through Quinn, Rachel immediately put her tiny hand against his chest to stop him, shaking her head. "Don't step through her. She's about 5'6" as well, so factor in the height difference accordingly."

Hiram sat at the kitchen table and gaped at the scene playing out in front of him. Rachel noticed that his face betrayed the fear that he was trying to mask. As she looked back to Leroy, Rachel watched him hold out his large hand that he had curled in a fist. "I'm truly honored to meet you, Quinn," Leroy said as he waited for the ghost to give him a fist bump.

Hiram rolled his eyes at his husband. "How old are you, Leroy?"

The other man shot a glare back to the shorter man at the table. "How do you know she can actually shake a hand, Hiram? A fist touch seems easier - oh my God," he cut off as his head whipped back to his fist, "my hand is ice cold now."

"Tell him I'm pleased to meet him," Rachel heard.

Rachel smiled softly as a grin broke out over her father's features. "She says that she's pleased to meet you, daddy," Rachel recited softly.

Hiram launched out of the table and practically ran up to the group. Rachel gasped lightly as she felt Quinn quickly move to her other side. "Dad," Rachel chastised, "Please be more careful, you're scaring Quinn."

"Shut up, I'm not a wimp," Rachel heard whispered in her ear, but she could hear the subtle tremor in Quinn's voice.

"Oh, I apologize, Quinn. I'm just incredibly excited to meet you," Hiram hastily added as he latched onto his husband's arm with both hands. "I'll admit this is a new experience for our family; you know, meeting a ghost. Although I'll admit, I already like you better than Finn."

Rachel groaned as she heard a sharp laugh from next to her followed by a mumbled, "I think you'd like a brick more than you'd like Finn."

Rachel laughed loudly at Quinn's joke, causing Hiram to grin. "What did she say?" he questioned.

"She said she thinks you'd like a brick more than you'd like Finn," Rachel said as she bit her lip.

Hiram paused for a moment and Leroy looked confused before adding, "I'm confused as to what the difference is."

Quinn was the first to laugh at Rachel's daddy's joke; and laugh she did. Rachel was overcome with Quinn's laughter as soon as it hit her ears; the way it sounded so pure and angelic, and for a brief moment, Rachel could picture Quinn's eyes as they sparkled with happiness. It was almost instinctual for Rachel to throw her head back and join in Quinn's laughter, and before she knew it, everyone in the room was cracking up.

It was perfect. The brunette had tears in her eyes as she thought about how absolutely perfect this moment was; as if nothing in the world could ever ruin it. Most importantly, Rachel felt like Quinn belonged with them.

* * *

><p>Hours later left Quinn sprawled out on her back on the Berry's kitchen table. It was well past midnight by then, and Quinn was both physically and mentally exhausted. It was weird for her, being a ghost, to feel physically drained. She liked it to a human feeling as if they have no strength or motivation to do anything but sleep; only for Quinn, it was her soul that felt like that when she exerted her physical presence too much.<p>

"It's rather impolite to recline on your host's table, Quinn," Rachel berated from her spot on the chair next to Quinn's head.

"It's rather impolite to turn someone's world completely upside-down, too, but you don't hear me bitching," Quinn retorted as she rolled her head to the side to watch Rachel's face.

Her hazel eyes scanned over Rachel's expression as she saw the brunette visibly gulp; Quinn could see Rachel's mind racing as the brunette opened and closed her mouth, trying to think of the right words.

"What?" Quinn bit out, a little harsher than she intended.

Rachel's brows furrowed in surprise as she moved her eyes to search the air for Quinn's. "Fine, I understand that you're still angry with me, Quinn, and rightfully so."

Quinn arched an eyebrow as she watched Rachel for any sign that the brunette was going to continue on to an apology. After a moment, Quinn grew impatient. "And?"

"And what?" Rachel asked, obliviously.

Quinn's expectant look turned into a glare as she said, "_And_ now is the time when you apologize for what you did to me tonight!"

Rachel had the audacity, in Quinn's opinion, to look angry. "Excuse me? You _enjoyed_ yourself, Quinn. I did you a favor by bringing you into contact with more people. The last ghost books I read specifically discussed-"

"I don't care what your damn books said, Rachel! Or about your "ghost" theories, or your "ghost" notes," Quinn roared, suddenly standing right in front of Rachel, "Is that all I am to you?"

Rachel didn't say a word as she stared up into the space where Quinn was standing. "Answer me, Rachel. Am I only a science experiment to you? A research study? Is that why you brought me here tonight? So you could prove to your dads that you're not insane and therefore can continue your little experiment?" Quinn questioned, losing herself in her rage. She didn't notice the glow that was forming around her, or that the electricity in the air was making Rachel's hair stand on end, or that the chairs around the table were lightly shaking; Quinn was only focused on the ideas in her mind that were rapidly barreling over her rationality.

"Stop that, Quinn," Rachel insisted as she sat up a little straighter in her chair, "You're being ridiculous. If I had known that you would have been so adverse to coming here, I would have risked living in an insane asylum instead. Is that what you want to hear?"

Quinn stared at Rachel with lifeless eyes. "Don't do me any favors, Rachel, and that includes lying to me," she whispered, eerily.

Rachel abruptly stood up; with how close Quinn was already standing by her, Rachel ended up standing within Quinn by a few inches. "I am not lying to you, Quinn Fabray," Rachel seethed, "I just don't understand where all of this is suddenly coming from. You're angered by the fact that my interests are peaked because of who you are-"

"_What_ I am," Quinn interrupted, bitterly, wildly gesturing to her body that Rachel was standing within.

"_Who_ you are," Rachel practically screamed, "Where is all of this coming from, Quinn?"

"From you not answering my damn question!" Quinn yelled.

"What does it matter?" Rachel screamed back, "Why does it matter so much to you? I thought you didn't care!" Quinn hadn't stepped back from Rachel, and the blond began to notice that the air around her was glowing with blue light and every hair on Rachel's body was standing up.

"It matters because I'm not some fucking science experiment that you get to parade around and take credit for discovering," the ghost snarled.

"No, you're not!" Rachel yelled, and Quinn almost drew back a little at the look in Rachel's eyes, "I never said you were! _You_ were the one who didn't want me getting close to you. I read those stupid ghosts books because I'm trying to figure out why you're trapped here, okay? I'm trying to figure out how to save you."

"I don't need saving!" Quinn yelled. The ghost couldn't explain where her rage was coming from; all she knew was that from her thoughts back in her own kitchen to now, she had somehow become betrayed along the way. However, she couldn't remember the last time she had been this mad. That, combined with Rachel literally standing in her, fueled her anger enough to knock over the chairs at the table with her last outburst.

"You need to calm down, Quinn," Rachel began. Quinn didn't see an ounce of fear in those brown eyes as they bore into her, "Whatever I did to upset you, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for bringing you here, I'm sorry for intruding into your life and turning it upside down, I'm sorry for everything. I thought we were making progress; I thought we were friends. Clearly, I was wrong and I am in fact causing you far too much distress by being in your life. I'll leave you alone if that's the problem here."

"I don't want you to leave me!" Quinn bellowed, "That's the problem!" The ghost paused as she saw the glow around her presence flare up dramatically. Rachel stepped back from her hastily, tripping backwards over the fallen chair behind her. Quinn furrowed her brows as she saw the brunette's eyes widen in shock. "Rachel-"

"Quinn," the brunette breathed out on the floor, not bothering to stand up; Quinn watched Rachel's eyes fill with tears, "What have we done?"

Quinn's expression turned into hard confusion as she took a step towards Rachel, asking, "What do you mean?"

"I can see you," Rachel whispered in awe.

"…W-what did you say?" Quinn whispered, freezing in her tracks.

"I can see you, Quinn."

"That's not funny."

Rachel slowly got up from the floor and approached Quinn. The ghost watched Rachel trace her eyes along Quinn's body, moving her eyes from Quinn's feet to her hair, then slowly settle on her eyes. Rachel was staring directly into her eyes. "I see you, Quinn. I see you," Rachel breathed out with tears streaming down her cheeks.

* * *

><p>Rachel had felt the air changing around her rapidly as she'd been fighting with Quinn, but she had no idea that things were getting as bad as they were until Quinn's outburst literally focused her energy enough to knock the chairs over. Rachel hadn't been deterred, however, and she sure as hell wasn't scared of Quinn. She hadn't been scared when she knew she was standing <em>in<em> Quinn, nor was she scared when she saw the air around Quinn glowing.

Now though? Now she was scared. She was terrified because standing in front of her, looking for all the world like the gorgeous girl she had seen in the picture, was Quinn Fabray, in the ghostly flesh. Rachel slowly advanced on a terrified looking Quinn until she was standing less than an inch from her. She could see Quinn clearly, despite the blue glow around her and the fact that Rachel could see _through_ her.

Regardless, here they were. Rachel's breath swirled in front of her from the ice in the air; the temperature in the room had dropped a good ten to twenty degrees due to all of the energy that Quinn had unknowingly drawn in to materialize. The brunette was in utter awe as she took in Quinn's white sundress that stopped just above her knees, tied at the waist by a white rope belt, and the red, fuzzy cardigan with sleeves that covered her hands from being so long. The ghost's long, blond hair cascaded down her back and shoulders in waves and choppy bangs fell into her eyes. Oh, God, her eyes, Rachel thought. Quinn was about three or four inches taller than Rachel, but Rachel only had to tilt her head back a little to be able to look into Quinn's eyes, and so she did. "My God," Rachel breathed out in wonder.

She noticed Quinn's eyes had never left Rachel's. As she stared into the hazel-green eyes now, she saw pure terror, but trust. Rachel saw _trust_ in Quinn's eyes, and she silently wondered how much it hurt Quinn to put that much trust into her.

"Do you want to see…?" Rachel questioned, silently, her voice hanging thick in the air as Quinn gave no response.

"I don't know," Quinn whispered back a few moments later. Rachel's expression was soft as she gazed at Quinn affectionately. The blond never moved her eyes from Rachel's, and the brunette's eyes flickered with grief as she noted that the terror had not left Quinn's eyes. Quinn was rooted in the same spot she'd been in minutes before. She was terrified, confused, and completely bewildered; it was clear to Rachel that Quinn had no idea what to do, she hadn't been seen in ten years and now that she was, she was rendered motionless.

And suddenly, Rachel was furious. She was furious as Quinn's idiot boyfriend, she was furious at God, and most of all, she was furious at herself. She had put Quinn in this position, she had forced Quinn to become open to her, and _she_ had made Quinn so mad that she literally materialized.

"Yes," Quinn whispered. Rachel's hands clenched into fists at her side as she tried to will herself to stop crying; she didn't even know when she had started.

"Okay," Rachel said as calmly as she could, "Wait right here and I'll go get a mirror."

The brunette took a step back from Quinn and paused, meeting the blond's eyes again, and in that moment Rachel knew Quinn had the same fear as her. What if when she got back, Quinn was gone again? How long was this going to last now that Quinn had calmed down? Rachel hesitated and for the first time, she saw some of the terror leave her ghost's eyes as Quinn nodded, telling Rachel it was okay to go, that she'd be there when she got back.

That didn't stop Rachel from running as fast as she could both ways on her trip to the downstairs bathroom for the mirror.

* * *

><p>Quinn didn't move an inch. She didn't wiggle her fingers, she didn't shuffle her feet, she didn't crane her neck to see where Rachel ran; Quinn didn't move an inch. If she moved, she might disappear again. She didn't expect that this would last forever, in fact, she could feel her strength rapidly leaving her, and she knew after everything she'd been through that day and after how much she exerted herself, she'd need to take a few days to recuperate. But even knowing that, Quinn refused to move, not even letting out a sigh of relief when Rachel came skidding back into the kitchen with a handheld mirror in her grasp.<p>

The tiny brunette came to a halt a few inches from Quinn, her chest heaving from exertion, and Quinn saw her grip tighten on the handle. "Are you ready?" she asked softly.

Quinn's gaze bore into Rachel's, soaking up the conviction that she saw in them and letting that give Quinn the strength that she needed to nod her head in the affirmative.

"Wait," Quinn suddenly said, stopping Rachel from holding up the mirror. The blond held an unnecessary breath as she leaned down a little after noticing something. She could see her own reflection in Rachel's eyes. She could see the blue glow around her like a ring of blue fire reflected in chocolate eyes. Quinn leaned forward more until she was an inch from Rachel's face. The brunette let out a shaky breath and for a moment, Quinn couldn't see Rachel's eyes from the mist her breath let out. But once it cleared, Quinn let out a gasp. The ghost saw herself clearly; so clearly, in fact, that Quinn's eyes began to water.

It was clear that Rachel knew what the ghost was doing, and Quinn could tell that Rachel was trying to fight it, but nonetheless, fresh tears rapidly began to pool in the brunette's eyes. Quinn took a step back and nodded again, signaling Rachel to hold up there mirror.

What she'd seen in Rachel's eyes was magnified ten fold as Quinn saw her own reflection in a mirror for the first time in ten years. Quinn stared into the mirror for a few minutes as she re-memorized the lines that made up her face and the scars that made up her past. However, she could tell that she was losing strength quicker than she thought, and she saw herself start to fade.

"Quinn," Rachel breathed out in anguish as she blond became almost completely invisible again, the blue glow around her quickly dissipating as well.

"It's okay," Quinn said honestly, smiling fully at Rachel as the brunette dropped the arm holding the mirror to her side, "I got to see myself, Rachel, I got to see myself. I haven't changed, I'm still me. I feel a little more at peace now."

Quinn didn't feel as peaceful as she was trying to convey, but for some reason, she wanted Rachel to see her smile. She wanted the brunette to know what Quinn's smile looked like, so maybe instead of picturing her glaring all of the time, Rachel could picture Quinn smiling when she couldn't see her again.

As Quinn felt the last of her energy leave her, she watched Rachel's expression move from terror to agony; and when Rachel dropped the mirror and clutched at her chest, shaking her head and repeatedly whispering "no", Quinn knew that she was gone again. As the remainder of Quinn's energy left her, she tried to whisper, "It'll be okay," to Rachel before she closed her eyes and pictured her bed back home.

* * *

><p>Rachel stood in the kitchen, alone, her eyes lifeless as she cursed the heat for flooding back into her body. She silently cursed her fingers as the numbness from the cold wore off. Quinn was gone. Quinn was gone and Rachel didn't know if she'd ever be able to come back, visible or not.<p>

"Rachel…?" the brunette heard from behind her.

"Please," Rachel whispered, "Leave me alone."

Rachel heard silence as she imagined her daddy was taking in the scene in the kitchen. And could she blame him? The chairs were knocked over, Rachel's hair was a mess from the winds Quinn had caused, and a mirror was lying, broken, on the floor at her feet.

"Is she gone?" Leroy asked quietly, not stepping into the kitchen.

Rachel looked down at the various pieces of glass at her feet, staring into her broken reflection in the shards of glass on the floor, she sighed, "Yes, she's gone."

* * *

><p>Quinn swam in pure darkness. Never had she used so much energy before, not even when she had been learning and pushing herself to discover and use her ghostly powers. Between panicking and following Rachel to the hospital, having to meet Rachel's fathers and do small things to prove her existence, the fight leading up to materializing, and the feelings she had been trying to cope with, Quinn had literally spent all of her energy. She didn't even know if she'd managed to make it back to her bed before everything had gone black.<p>

Quinn tried to move her fingers or her feet, anything, and she mentally groaned in frustration as nothing moved. Was this it? Quinn couldn't open her eyes - her eyelids were too heavy - but she knew they would have widened in fear if she could have. Did she do something wrong? Or…something right? Did she pass on? Oh, God. She panicked internally. She wasn't ready to pass on. She didn't mean to show herself to Rachel, she wasn't even sure how it happened! Her best guess was her extreme anger combined with the fact that Rachel had been standing inside of her, and maybe had transferred some of her energy to Quinn, had given her the ability to actually show herself.

"Please," Quinn managed to whisper, despite her throat being unbelievably tight and her chest hurting as if she could breathe and hadn't quite gotten enough air, "I'm sorry if I made you mad, God… But _please_ don't take me now. You could have taken me anytime before now, anytime over these past ten years, but now," Quinn paused as she coughed a few times before trying to force more words into the blackness, "you can't take me now! I have a reason to stay now. I need… I need to figure out how deep mine and Rachel's connection runs. I know you didn't bring her into my life to just rip me away from her like this…" she finished in a voice so quiet, she wasn't even sure if it even really managed to escape past her lips.

Quinn expected to see a giant beam of light shine down from the heavens, or to find herself be suddenly floating in the clouds; you know, the way she had seen Heaven portrayed in the movies. Instead, nothing happened. She was still incased in utter darkness, not even sure if she was lying on her bed, as she was engulfed in silence.

Silence. The ghost felt her chest tightening to a breaking point as she tried to roll her head to the sides to look around. How long had she been lying here, anyway? Did Rachel know where she was? Rachel… She had looked like she was in such agony as Quinn disappeared… Why? For Quinn's sake? The blond groaned as she left her head resting to the left. She couldn't have moved on, yet… She had to figure out what was going on with Rachel. All of those damn feelings that Rachel made Quinn feel… Quinn couldn't be gone yet.

"Quinn?" The lifeless blond immediately felt a sense of peace wash over her as she heard a voice whisper her name. "Quinn, I'm here for you now."

She smiled despite the huge effort it took. The angelic voice washed over her and, all of a sudden, all of her worries melted into the darkness behind her as an incredibly bright light encompassed her.


	6. Six

Deus Ex Machina [god in the machine]

* * *

><p>For a week after Quinn disappeared, Rachel discovered that blasting music to try to drown out the silence in her mind, failed. After two weeks, the brunette started considering the words "alive" and "dead" to be curse words; and consequentially reprimanded everyone and anyone who used them.<p>

Rachel woke up that Wednesday morning, the exact morning that marked exactly two weeks sans Quinn, and groaned. There was a soft knock on the door that Rachel barely turned her head towards before asking, "Yes?"

Leroy poked his head in, and smiled at Rachel softly, "There's ten minutes until you've officially overslept by three hours, Rachel. Would you like to stay in bed again, today? Your father and I decided, after hearing your fifth embellished groan from downstairs, that you might need another day off. We realize you're still upset and are completely willing to console you during your time of loss. But, you really need to at least shower today. Your father and I didn't say anything about it to you yesterday," the man said, staying at his spot behind the door, "but by now I'm sure you realize that bathing is a good option. We would appreciate it. Also, breakfast is on the table. While we understand the grieving process is emotionally daunting, we also think it's a good idea for you to eat, as well."

With that, Leroy nodded and shut the door. Rachel stared at the door before moving her head back to stare at the ceiling.

Okay, so maybe she was depressed, Rachel thought, as she lied flat on her back, staring up and wincing against the beam of light streaming in through her blinds. She had reason to be depressed, though. Three glaring reasons, actually. The brunette stared a hole through her ceiling to the clouds outside as she thought of Quinn. Beautiful, damaged, young Quinn, her ghost. _Her_ ghost. Two weeks is a long time.

"Two weeks is a long time," Rachel repeated, voicing her thought. But Quinn was not the only reason Rachel was depressed; albeit, she was the main reason.

There were the nightmares. Granted, Rachel always had the nightmare about the crash every couple of months, but these were different. For the past two weeks, either she'd have these new nightmares or she just wouldn't dream at all. She chalked it up to missing Quinn, but something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong. If Rachel didn't know better, she would guess that these nightmares had something to do with the Ombra, and she didn't know how to handle this on her own. She supposed that led her back to Quinn again, ironically enough. Everything seemed to lead Rachel back to Quinn now.

Except her so-called "friends". They didn't lead her back to missing Quinn; they _hurled_ her back into missing Quinn. They were _awful_. All Rachel wanted to do was be able to spend some of the break keeping up with vocal exercises, but they still refused to see her. Finn would call a few times a day, but Rachel would ignore that call every time. Puck just flat out refused to even acknowledge that she was alive. Fine by her, Rachel would think, since she wouldn't even acknowledge that she was alive anymore.

Quinn was gone. That thought passed through Rachel's mind countless times a day, in an hour, in an instant. Quinn was gone. Had she passed on? Had she just decided to leave Rachel? Or had it been Rachel's fault? Had Quinn been taken away because Rachel had seen her?

"No," Rachel heard an almost unrecognizable voice answer her own thoughts, "It wasn't your fault. She didn't just leave. She wouldn't have left voluntarily. Maybe she needs your help; did you ever stop to think of that? Maybe while you've been wallowing in your own personal hell, Quinn's been waiting for you to come save her."

Rachel stared holes through the ceiling for a few more moments before letting out a short laugh. "Get up," the voice said again, "_get up_." It took Rachel a moment before the realization dawned upon her; the voice was her own.

And so she got up. Slowly, Rachel lowered her feet to the floor and held her head up high for the first time in weeks. Granted, Rachel had gone to Quinn's house twice after the incident; the first time was the day after, and she found nothing, while the second had been a week later and she again found nothing. Part of Rachel was terrified to go back now and find nothing, no sign of Quinn; but a larger part of her was more terrified of living another day inside her toxic mind. She slipped into a pair of tennis shoes and didn't change out of her sweats as she walked out of her bedroom door, almost in a trance-like state.

Rachel paused at the bottom of the stairs and listened to her fathers talk about her over the breakfast table. The brunette, in a pair of faded McKinley sweatpants with the year _2000_ printed on them and a plain white scoop-neck T-shirt, quickly made her way out of the front door unnoticed. Truthfully, she thought, her fathers probably wouldn't notice her absence at all since she'd hardly been out of her room for the past two weeks anyway; the beauty of winter break.

The brunette silently cursed herself for running out of the house with neither a jacket nor car keys as she started jogging halfway down her driveway. All Rachel knew was that no amount of snow or bone-chilling Lima weather was going to stop her from getting to Quinn. She couldn't give up, she couldn't, and she could kick herself for almost doing just that.

As the wind whipped Rachel's hair around her face and stung her eyes to the point of tearing up, she ran. She ran past her fellow gleek's houses and didn't spare them one look. She ran over cracks in the sidewalk and leapt over snow piles in the street. She ran past the cherry tree in Quinn's front yard and she ran up the porch steps. Rachel paused, however, as her hand hovered over the doorknob. She used to know that she could just walk in and it would be fine, but what about now? Would it be locked? Would someone have broken in while Quinn wasn't around to scare intruders off? Rachel's hand shook, and she tried to still it, before she sucked in a breath and twisted her wrist in a quick motion, opening the door.

The second Rachel stepped into the threshold, she was in a panic. She had to find Quinn here this time, she had to. Quinn had to be here. There was no other explanation and no other option. Quinn was here, Rachel could feel it.

"Quinn?" Rachel called as she ran into the kitchen. Nothing. Rachel repeated her call as she ran across the hall and into the living room. Again, nothing. She would know the second she walked into the same room as Quinn because she would be ignited by that electrical current that only passed through her body when the ghost was around. Rachel tore apart the entire downstairs before hastily making her way up to the second floor.

The brunette ran a shaky hand through her hair as she stepped off the last step and onto the hardwood floor. Her Nikes made no noise as she slowly walked to the room that she had been standing in with Quinn right before all hell broke loose. Quinn's room. Shrine. Whatever. Rachel paused in the doorway as she let her eyes carefully roam the room, taking in every detail, seeing if anything was out of place. Her breath caught when she found the one minute detail that was indeed out of place.

The indentation in the pillow on Quinn's bed. That hadn't been there two weeks ago. That hadn't been there one week ago. Rachel's eyebrows furrowed together and her face contorted in desperation as she stepped into the room, hoping to feel that jolt of electricity when she did so. And she did. "Oh, Quinn," Rachel breathed out, almost silently, as she took long strides to the bed. "Quinn," Rachel repeated, louder, as she prayed for a response.

Almost immediately, Rachel's ears were greeted by the sound of a low groan from somewhere within Quinn's chest, and Rachel felt like she could finally breathe again for the first time in two weeks.

Rachel dropped to her knees at the side of Quinn's bed and brought her hands up to her chest, trying to still her heaving chest as she clearly stated, "Quinn, I'm here for you now." The smile that painted itself on Rachel's features was involuntary as she heard Quinn groan in appreciation, this time far less strangled.

The brunette stood up and bit her lip as she gazed down worriedly at the indentation on the pillow. "I'm not leaving you again," Rachel whispered as her eyes softened immensely, "I promise." She moved to open the curtains that over the small window in the room. The bright white of the snow outside the house lighted up the space. Rachel checked her cell phone for any missed calls before sitting down next to the side of the bed that Quinn was lying on. She leaned her head back against the nightstand and set her hand on the bed, just so Quinn knew she was there. In a matter of hours, Rachel fell asleep, not moving an inch.

* * *

><p>Quinn opened her eyes for the first time in she didn't know how long. She had the strength to lift her eyelids, she thought, so that was a plus. Why was it so bright? Why was her hand tingling and why did she feel - "Rachel," Quinn whispered as memories of everything flooded back to her. Memories of Rachel being carried out of her house, the hospital, meeting Rachel's dads, the fight, and…Rachel seeing her. Everything rushed back to Quinn and she let out a groan at the sensory overload. "Rachel," the ghost repeated as she took in a shaky breath, "I have to get to Rachel." How long had she been asleep? …Had she been asleep? Quinn's thoughts were interrupted as the nagging in the back of her mind got louder. Why was her hand tingling? After a few seconds of preparation, Quinn found the strength to roll her head to the right. She let out a quiet gasp and managed to roll her entire body over so that she was now on her stomach with her face six inches from Rachel's.<p>

"Hello, Quinn," Rachel whispered, very much awake, and Quinn's breath was taken away at seeing the girl's face again. The way Rachel's expression seemed so broken, but so tender and caring. With the way the girl's eyes were red and puffy in a way that showed she'd been crying for days on end, maybe weeks. But above all, the way Rachel's hair was pulled back into a messy bun with the layered strands falling down to frame her face perfectly. The brunette quietly interrupted Quinn's thoughts with an uncharacteristically small voice, "You sound like you've seen a ghost, Quinn."

Quinn's perfectly sculpted eyebrow arched as she let out a quiet laugh and dropped her chin onto the bed. "I think I have," she admitted, "because you are definitely not the same Rachel that I left…" she trailed off, tracing Rachel's eyes as she waited for the girl to finish her sentence.

"Two weeks ago," Rachel supplied, softly, her voice even quieter than before, "Today was the first day that I could feel your presence enough to know that…" she trailed off, and Quinn saw the lump in her throat.

"You thought that I had passed on," the blond said, dropping her gaze down to where Rachel's hand was laying in hers.

"I didn't know _what_ to think," Rachel said, shrugging slightly as she stayed with her back against the nightstand, as if it was the only thing keeping her upright.

"Have you been out looking for me…?" Quinn asked as she shifted her weight until she had her head propped up on her arms folded in front of her.

Her hazel eyes watched Rachel's cloud over with guilt. "No," Rachel whispered in a broken sob, "I came here twice, once right after you disappeared and then again a week later. I couldn't…feel your presence, at all. I didn't know where else to look and I didn't even know where else to begin looking so I just…stayed in my bed," Rachel finished with a small shrug.

Quinn watched Rachel, just watched her, for a few moments as she took note of all of the emotions that trailed across her eyes. However, as soon as Rachel's eyes moved back to Quinn's and Quinn saw the quiet desperation in them, she spoke up again and reassured her with a quiet, "You did more than anyone else would have done, Rachel. You came back for me."

Rachel's exhausted eyes brimmed with tears as she nodded and stared into Quinn's eyes. "What happened to you?" the brunette questioned.

Quinn sighed as she managed to roll herself onto her back on the other side of the bed. She noiselessly patted the side of the bed that she had previously occupied and told Rachel, "Come up here."

Without hesitation, Rachel moved to her knees and pulled herself onto the bed next to Quinn. Quinn watched her rest her head in the indentation previously left by herself and turn so she was on her left side, staring at Quinn. The ghost smiled to herself as Rachel's eyes bore straight into hers; how the girl did that, Quinn would never know.

"Go on," Rachel urged.

Quinn sucked in a breath and shook her head. "I don't know what happened to me," Quinn answered honestly, "One minute I was standing in your kitchen, the next I was disappearing again. Only, I didn't just disappear visually. Apparently becoming an actual apparition drained every source of energy that I had. I was basically blacked out and on autopilot because I somehow managed to blink myself into my bed before the entire world went dark. I was sort of…" Quinn paused, trying to find the right words, "almost stuck in a sort of limbo. I was aware of my own senses, my own being, but I couldn't open my eyes and I didn't have the energy to really exist at all. Then I heard your voice and…"

Rachel furrowed her brows in confusion. "You heard my voice?" she asked.

Quinn nodded then continued, "Yes, I heard your voice. You said my name, and then you said you were here now. I felt peaceful enough to finally let myself slip into a state of sleep." Quinn brought her eyes up to Rachel and adopted a confused expression. "Why do you look so confused, Rachel?" she asked.

"Because I said that to you a matter of hours ago, Quinn," Rachel stated, "meaning you forced yourself to stay awake and in a state of limbo for two weeks."

Quinn stared wide-eyed at Rachel before letting out a single laugh and mumbling, "No wonder it felt like an eternity. And I only felt peaceful enough to sleep-"

"When you knew I was here," Rachel finished before adding, "You must not have actually _existed_ before then, since I couldn't feel your presence before today. You must be slowly regaining your energy."

Quinn was still stuck on the fact that Rachel had been what had allowed Quinn to finally be at peace. This was an interesting discovery. "This is fascinating," Quinn heard from Rachel, interrupting her thoughts.

"What is, exactly?" she asked as she focused on Rachel again.

"Everything about this, about you," the brunette clarified, "by all accounts and purposes you should have very well passed on." Quinn stiffened. Rachel continued, "Do you ever wonder what's keeping you here, Quinn…?"

"I used to," the blond bit out through clenched teeth, hating speaking on this subject, "I used to think it was just because I was so adamant about not passing on. Now I think I have a hunch about what's keeping me here," Quinn said, trailing off as her eyes roamed from Rachel's tennis shoes all the way back up to the girl's eyes. As Rachel opened her mouth to undoubtedly ask Quinn what she meant, Quinn cut her off. "I'm really tired again, Rachel," the ghost said, not feeling all that bad because it was true, "I think I need to sleep some more."

Rachel nodded in understanding. "I completely agree. You sleep, Quinn, I'll be here," she said, nodding to solidify her point.

Quinn rolled over so that she was on her stomach again and kept her eyes on Rachel for a few more minutes. She ended up falling asleep to the rhythm of Rachel's chest rising and falling next to her.

* * *

><p>Rachel's eyes shot open a few hours later. She hadn't meant to fall asleep but the sounds of Quinn's rhythmic breathing, telling her the girl was asleep, had lured Rachel into her own state of drowsiness. She immediately rolled over, momentarily ignoring the heaviness that she felt across her waist, as she turned to where she imagined Quinn's head was. "Quinn," Rachel whispered urgently, "are you awake?"<p>

Rachel felt the air move in front of her face briefly and smiled, imagining that Quinn had just swatted her away with her hand in her sleep. "Come on, Quinn, just wake up for a moment! This is most urgent!"

The brunette waited until she heard a frustrated groan, followed by a mumbled, "What, Berry?"

Rachel pushed herself up onto her elbows and wildly gestured towards the pillow she had just vacated while excitedly saying, "There was an indentation on this pillow, Quinn!"

There was a moment of silence as Rachel assumed Quinn looked from the pillow back up to Rachel before slowly stating, "Yes, Rachel, that tends to happen when you put your head on pillows. You seriously woke me up to tell me this? I need to rest before I-"

"You do," Rachel agreed quickly, interrupting her, "but Quinn, I mean when I found you earlier, _you_ had left an indentation on the pillow. I could see you because I saw the indentation!"

The room felt heavy as a thick silence descended. The only sound that could be heard was a jagged combination of Quinn's steady breathing mingled with the harsh wind hitting against the house. Rachel waited patiently, still propped up on her elbows, as she let Quinn process this information. But what did it mean? Was Quinn becoming a stronger type of ghost? Or was something else entirely happening?

The brunette was focused on the wall behind where she assumed Quinn's head was, thinking critically about what books she had to skim when she got home to see what this new installment meant, when she felt the material of her T-shirt twist in on itself. No, that was wrong. Her shirt was being fisted in someone's hand. "Quinn, please tell me that's -"

"Quiet," Rachel heard Quinn whisper from only a breath away, "I need to concentrate." Rachel stayed frozen as her eyes watched the cotton of her shirt bunch in an invisible fist. Her brown eyes snapped down to check - Ah, yes. Now Rachel could see a dip in the bed where Quinn's body lied.

"What's going on?" she found herself asking the ghost as Rachel felt a small tug, pulling her towards the dip in the bed.

"I don't know," Quinn whispered in return, "but I'm afraid to take my eyes off of my hand because it might break the spell." Rachel could only nod dumbly in silent agreement. There was a shift in the bed - Rachel gasped as she _felt_ the bed move as Quinn scooted closer to the brunette - and suddenly Rachel's right ear was on fire with pins and needles as she heard a whispered, "This is real, right? I'm not asleep or hallucinating, am I?"

Rachel shook her head, her jaw unhinged in shock, as her mouth moved wordlessly. Her dark eyes traveled back down to her balled up shirt where Rachel could feel Quinn's knuckles pressed against her ribcage. For once, Rachel Berry was struck speechless.

* * *

><p>Quinn was transfixed on her own hand. The way her fingers were fisted in the fabric of Rachel's shirt, the way she could almost <em>feel<em> the cotton under her fingers. It was as if the feeling was right there, on the tip of her fingers, just barely out of reach but close enough to see. Most importantly to Quinn though was not the feeling of the cotton so much as the actual feeling of Rachel breathing. _That_ she could feel in the way her hand rose and fell as the brunette's heart rate sped up.

"I'm so scared that if I let go-" Quinn said, breaking off as her voice cracked, not raising her voice, and not wanting to change a thing. She didn't understand her sudden sense of being an almost physical being, but she didn't want to question it. Quinn didn't know how long it would last, or if it even would at all, so she intended to take full advantage of it. The ghost reluctantly let go of Rachel's shirt and stared up into chocolate eyes from flat on her back. "Hold your hand up," Quinn commanded.

Rachel stared back at her in confusion. "Why did you let go?" she questioned, almost panicked, "Did you let go because you chose to or-"

"Hold your hand up, Rachel," Quinn repeated, eerily calm like. After a slight hesitation, Rachel obeyed and raised her hand so that her palm was facing Quinn and just put the rest of her weight on her other arm.

Slowly, painfully so, Quinn lifted her own hand and brought her palm up to press against Rachel's. The blond hesitated when her hand was just about to make contact. Quinn kept visualizing her hand simply passing through Rachel's, as it did with everything else unless she made herself rest it on an object before passing through it. Quinn could create the illusion for herself easily enough, but that had never erased the fact that she would pass ultimately through anything she touched.

Rachel seemed to sense Quinn's fear and Quinn noticed that stilled Rachel's own trepidation, as the brunette spoke low, "It's all right, Quinn. Don't be afraid. Touch me." The last part of Rachel's sentence came out barely louder than a breath of air, but Quinn heard her loud and clear.

The ghost squeezed her eyes shut tightly and pushed her hand forward, closing the fleeting gap and meeting resistance. _Her hand met resistance_. Quinn sucked in a ragged breath. Her hand met resistance. She gradually opened her eyes and noticed Rachel doing the same, only Rachel had tears in her eyes and Quinn momentarily wondered if she did as well.

In between Quinn and Rachel's bodies, their hands hovered in the air, pressed tightly against each other. Both girls stared in fascination, and some time later, renegade tears left trails down Rachel's cheeks to her lips as they tugged into a smile. Rachel laced her fingers with Quinn's and clasped tighter.

It was in that moment that Quinn was overcome with emotions. Not new emotions, not any emotion particularly stronger than any other one that she felt around Rachel normally, but emotions that made her chest burn as calescent as it did on the day that she had died. And then suddenly Quinn had surged forward and pressed her lips to Rachel's. Something erupted in the back of Quinn's mind when their lips made contact and her senses seemed to explode. She could taste the vanilla chapstick that Rachel had on her lips, she could feel Rachel's bottom lip between her own two, she could hear Rachel gasp the second of impact, and Quinn felt exactly when Rachel started kissing her back less than a second later.

Quinn felt two small hands fist into the front of her shirt to pull her up roughly into Rachel as the brunette deepened the kiss. The ghost tangled a hand in long chestnut locks as she pushed Rachel onto her back and allowed her to pull Quinn on top of her. They kissed frantically and without hesitation; Rachel not daring to pull away for air and Quinn not needing to.

* * *

><p>Rachel relished the feeling of Quinn's shirt in her hands and the weight of the blond on top of her. Her body and mind were not connected in that moment, and for that, Rachel was grateful because she didn't want to question anything; she just wanted to feel it. Rachel just wanted to close her eyes, picture Quinn kissing her, the way the girl's piercing hazel eyes were closed, and the way her pink lips were moving against her own in perfect synchronization.<p>

The girls were graced with three more seconds before Rachel no longer felt the comforting weight of Quinn on top of her. In the blink of an eye, Rachel's entire body ignited in agony as pins and needles exploded everywhere in her. Quinn had returned to her previous state and had fallen through, and into, the brunette.

Rachel cried out a broken sob in anguish as the agonizing pain left her body meaning Quinn had quickly rolled out of Rachel as soon as she realized what had happened. Quinn had been ripped away from her _again_, only she didn't think she could handle it this time. The brunette stayed on her back as her face crumbled and her entire body was wracked with sobs. She felt a soothing tingling against her cheek as Quinn desperately whispered, "Please stop crying, Rachel…I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Rachel's shaking hands clutched at the fabric of her T-shirt over her heart as she tried to speak through her tears and failed horribly. She felt the familiar tingling sensation along her left side and a train of pins and needles across her waist. "I'm so sorry," Quinn repeated continuously into Rachel's ear, sounding utterly devastated, and Rachel suddenly realized that Quinn sounded faded. Rachel briefly wondered how much energy it had taken Quinn to do all of that.

"Quiet," Rachel whispered, her voice raw and scratchy from sobbing, "just go to sleep now, Quinn. Rest."

The brunette decided to take her own advice as her tears subsided and her eyelids started drooping on their own accord. Some time later, Rachel faintly heard another "I'm sorry" before she thought she felt the ghost of a kiss on her cheek. She was asleep seconds later.

* * *

><p>When Quinn woke up Rachel was gone. Quinn sat up and ran her hands through her hair, wincing at the tug of knots she felt. Probably from Rachel's hands. Quinn paused. She stared straight across the room in utter shock before everything finally sunk in. She had been a physical presence, and she had basically felt and tasted things for the first time in ten years. Quinn had almost been real. And she had kissed Rachel. And Rachel had kissed her back.<p>

And it was as if it had never happened. Except that it did. It did and then Quinn fell through Rachel and now Rachel was gone. And Quinn had kissed Rachel.

As if a mask had been lifted, Quinn's exterior physically defected and her chest heaved once before her entire body broke down. Quinn felt the ghosts of her tears flood her face and seemingly drown her as she fought to not choke on her sobs.

"Why?" Quinn screamed at the ceiling. She was exhausted, granted, from everything that she had been able to do. Yet she mustered up the energy to tilt her head back and roam her eyes over the painted ceiling, screaming, "Why?" over and over.

"Why did you give me her just to take her away again? Why did you give her to me at _all_? What is the point in this, God? What are you pulling? Where is this leading me to?" Quinn screamed in rapid succession before falling forward face-first onto the bed. She mentally cursed the idiotic "ghost laws" and whoever put them in place for the fact that she couldn't fall through a floor or a bed but she would, without a doubt, never be able to hold someone's hand again. Not like she had with Rachel.

With her face pressed into the sheets that should have been soaked with her tears, Quinn stared blankly at the wall across the room from her. Her eyes glazed over and she stared through the dozens of pictures of herself, and she thought. She laid like that for hours and thought. It was clear to her then that she harbored feelings for Rachel, intense ones that she never intended to have. But they were there, and Quinn didn't want to deny them. She thought about why God sent Rachel into Quinn's life when He knew she would fall in love with her.

After hours of going through Bible verses and remembering what her parents had made her sit through in church, Quinn came to a solid conclusion, in her opinion. She was going to Hell. Quinn was doomed to be sent down to spend eternity in Hell, and this was it. Her ten years of being a ghost had clearly been a type of limbo, and then God sent Rachel into her life to send her to Hell.

New tears filled Quinn's eyes as she figured out that she was probably in the first stage of Hell; the first circle or something similar. She didn't know. All Quinn knew was that was the only conclusion that made sense. This had to be Hell, or love. Right? She thought back to her parent's marriage and wondered if there was really any difference at all.

* * *

><p>A good matter of hours later, Quinn sat up on ran a hand through her hair to push her fallen bangs out of her eyes. The sun was beginning to peer over the sill of her window and she guesstimated that it was about six or seven A.M. The ghost saw no point in getting out of bed when there was nothing to get out of bed for; Rachel was gone, and probably hated her for that matter, she had been both visible and tangible in the span of two weeks and then had those both ripped from her, what was the point anymore?<p>

Despite all of that, however, Quinn got up. She may have had everything torn from her and been reduced to less than nothing, but Quinn Fabray was not a quitter. Not wanting to feel more like a ghost than she already did, Quinn trudged out of her room as opposed to blinking herself downstairs. Quinn paused on the last step of the stairs, her forehead creasing in confusion, when she heard the TV playing softly in the living room and felt Rachel's presence.

Quinn stayed rooted in place as she wondered both why Rachel was still there and if it was worth it to make her presence known to the girl. Were they even okay? How did Quinn even want Rachel to react? How would she react if the roles had been reversed? Quinn's eyes widened a little when she suddenly realized that if she could feel Rachel's presence that Rachel could probably feel -

"Quinn?" Rachel called out to her from the living room. Crap.

"Yeah, Rachel," Quinn called back from her same spot, "It's me."

There was a moment of silence before a bland, "I figured as much," was shot back to her, "That was more of a subtly open-ended question as to why you've been standing in the same spot for the past fifteen minutes."

Quinn's eyebrows shot up in slight awe. Had it really been that long? Wonder, Quinn, because that's not obvious.

"Oh," Quinn heard come out quietly from the other room, drawing her attention back to the wall in between the girls, "did you wish to avoid me, Quinn? If so, I can go sit in another room. However, I'm not leaving, I apologize. I promised you I wouldn't leave you again, so that's that, I suppose."

Quinn turned her head slightly as her eyelids fluttered shut and a small smirk played on her lips. She steeled her shoulders and made her way into the living room before taking a seat on the chair kitty-cornered to the couch that Rachel was laying down on. Quinn smiled faintly as she silently noted the fact that when Quinn sprawled out on the couch, her feet dangled over the edge; however, when Rachel lied on the couch, her feet barely reached the edge.

Quinn's smile faltered briefly when her eyes caught a minor detail that she wasn't sure how she missed before. "Have you been wearing those this whole time?" she inquired with a steady voice as she kept her gaze on the sweatpants that Rachel was wearing.

The brunette slowly turned away from _One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest_ on the small screen to meet Quinn's eyes (as always) before having the decency to have a mild blush staining her cheeks. "Uhm, yes, I believe that I have. You see," Rachel began as she misinterpreted Quinn's silence for anger, "the second time I came here looking for you I happened to stumble upon your drawer of old clothes from what I'm assuming was your last year of high school so, your current age, and I just…" she trailed off.

Quinn cocked her head to the side and quizzically watched Rachel as McMurphy seemed to narrate the scene from inside of the TV as he demanded, "Which one of you nuts has got any guts?"

The blond watched a tiny smile tug at Rachel's lips and she knew the irony of the quote was not lost on the brunette. "I just needed to feel close to you," Rachel said after a moment of hesitation, "I needed to feel safe and like I actually had something to anchor my sanity to earth, because I was sure that I was losing my mind."

"Are you mad at me?" Rachel abruptly asked which caused Quinn to tear herself out of her thoughts and wipe the goofy grin off her face that had somehow wormed its way there after hearing what Rachel said.

"I'm not mad at you," Quinn said quietly but sternly, "Why would you think that I was mad at you? If anything you should be mad at me, Rachel."

"For kissing me?" Quinn watched Rachel ask and not knowing what to make of the amusement that was woven into the question, "No, I'm not mad at you for that. Usually people are mad at themselves for kissing me, not the other way around."

Quinn's expression tightened and her brows knit together as she kept an unblinking fixed stare on Rachel. The brunette bit her lip and flicked her gaze to the left as she shrugged her shoulders and mumbled, "It was only a kiss, anyway, a spur of the moment incident brought on by a state of euphoria, on both of our parts, at you being solid for the short time that you were." Liar.

Quinn's first reaction to get mad and go into defense mode, but she had the luxury of not being seen, and that gave her the chance to get a hold of her emotions and better observe Rachel's true motives before reacting inappropriately. Quinn knew that Rachel was lying and she thought she knew why.

"Well, it may have been that for you, but for me it wasn't just a kiss brought on by me being solid or tangible," Quinn admitted as she kept her gaze on Rachel.

Tears immediately sprang up in Rachel's eyes and Quinn saw a certain sense of relief pass over the girl's features as she repeated the same thought that she'd had weeks prior. "Falling for a ghost was not on my to-do list."

"Since when does Rachel Berry deviate from her to-do list then, right?" Quinn asked lightheartedly and with a smile.

"Since four months ago when a ghost interrupted my post-glee self-motivational cheer up session in the restroom by slamming a stall door into my face," Rachel retorted, not missing a beat.

Quinn's shoulders rose in laughter as her gaze turned far away. "I miss the days when I used to prank people," she admitted after a moment as she was sidetracked in her own thoughts.

"Why did you stop?" Rachel asked.

Quinn stayed in thought before sighing. She wanted to keep this from Rachel but it didn't look like that was going to happen. Whatever. Rachel wouldn't think she had gone soft just because of what she was about to tell her. "Remember the day that I saw you get slushied? You know, right in front of me."

Rachel slowly nodded, "Of course."

"Well, I realized then that most people at that school are already getting enough hell from the pathetic excuse for Cheerios that are there now, and if not them, then from the pathetic excuse for jocks that are there now. They don't need a ghost pranking them on top of all of that," Quinn stated.

For a moment, Quinn thought that she had said something wrong, because Rachel just stared up at her with wide eyes before shifting and sitting upright on the couch.

"Come with me to the school tomorrow," the little brunette demanded.

Quinn paused, taken back and a little frustrated that Rachel had managed to steer the conversation away from the kiss, before asking, "Why should I do that? Besides, it's locked now. Winter break, remember?"

Despite her frustration, Quinn smirked at the pout that Rachel immediately took on, almost bodily, at being denied. "I have a way in, Quinn. Besides, I wasn't aware that I was giving you a choice in the matter. It's completely necessary that you be in the school auditorium tomorrow at noon sharp," Rachel proclaimed with her chin held high. Quinn's eyebrow arched up as she stared the girl down. Rachel rolled her eyes and let out a resigned sigh after a moment of silence, adding, "Please."

"Fine," said Quinn, "but this doesn't mean that we're done talking about-"

The blond let out a hiss of breath between her gritted teeth when she was cut off by Rachel's cell phone going off. As the instrumental version of Defying Gravity rang through the house, Quinn was almost thankful that she couldn't physically touch anything anymore because she would have thrown Berry's phone out of a window. They needed to talk, and it didn't look like that was going to happen.

For her part, Rachel smiled sheepishly at Quinn before answering, "Hello? Oh, hello daddy. Yes, I'm at Quinn's," Rachel said very matter-of-fact before listening for a few more moments in which Quinn's eyebrow began to twitch, "You're right, and I apologize, I should have told you that I was leaving. However, I'm appalled that it took you this long to realize that. Of course, daddy. Thank you, I do sound better, but that's because I found her. Yes, she's all right. Okay, daddy, be home soon."

Quinn watched Rachel pull the phone away from her ear and snap it closed. "Do not tell me that you have to go," Quinn said dryly, "I thought you promised that you wouldn't leave."

Rachel looked down as she pursed her lips. "Unfortunately Quinn, I do have to return home. If I had any doubt whatsoever that you would not be in my room tonight anyway, I would not be leaving, but I know you. Anyway, we will just have to continue this conversation tomorrow, at the auditorium! All major events happen there, you know." With that, Quinn stayed seated as Rachel quickly got up and made her way to the door.

"You know I could haunt you for the rest of the night until we talk about this, right? Since I'll be at your house anyway," Quinn added with a roll of her eyes because _damn it_, it was true, "I could be the biggest pain in the ass you've ever met, Rachel," Quinn called after the brunette.

"While I'm aware that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, Quinn," Rachel shouted back as she opened the front door, "I'm afraid no wheel squeaks louder than myself. I would surely out-annoy you because it seems to be a hidden talent. Besides, you and I both know that you need to stay here and continue sleeping and resting. You've been through very traumatic things in a very short time frame, so please just rest your mind and spirit. We'll talk about everything tomorrow. Be prepared to do nothing but sleep when you get to my residence; that is of course, if you do come. I suppose I might be wrong about that but I highly doubt it. So, until tonight, Quinn."

Quinn rolled her eyes when she heard the front door click, signaling Rachel's departure after her long-winded rant.

"Wonderful, of course, because you haven't been through traumatic things recently either. Rachel Berry, you aren't as stone cold and unaffected as you'd like to make me think. God that girl is good at putting up her damn walls! Oh, I'll get you to talk, Berry," Quinn said mischievously to herself, "one way or another."

The blond perked up suddenly when she sensed something near. Quinn tensed as she felt the Ombra in the distance. What the hell were they doing? However, just as she was about to panic, her mind's eye told her that they were going in the opposite direction of her. Letting out a relieved sigh, Quinn moved from the chair to the couch that Rachel had previously been lying on. The ghost stretched out and laughed through her nose as her feet ended up dangling off the edge.

The last thought on Quinn's mind before she fell asleep was about Hell, and how if this was it, if Rachel was Hell, maybe Quinn could risk walking through some flames for her. It's not like she hadn't walked through flames before, anyway.

* * *

><p>Rachel opted to walk home instead of running, like she had to Quinn's house the day before, as she thought back on everything. She tried to let the freezing air numb her mind to the point of no thought processes being capable, but as predicted, that failed. No matter how hard she tried, Rachel could not stop thinking about the feel of Quinn's shirt twisted in her hands or how soft the girl's hair had been. Quinn had kissed her and, not only that, but Rachel had kissed back and it had been perfect. She couldn't describe it, but something inside of Rachel kept screaming at her to notice just how natural it had felt to kiss Quinn. She certainly had a lot of thinking to do that night, and she had to come to a decision before the auditorium meeting that she had set up.<p>

Did she love Quinn? _Could_ she love Quinn? The girl was a ghost, for crying out loud! Her chestnut hair whipped around her shoulders as she shook her head. No, Quinn was a _human_. A girl, okay, Rachel could deal with that; she had been raised to believe that love was love, regardless. The only thing getting in her way was the ghost part, and she wasn't quite sure that she could deal with that one. Oh, that was not the proper setting for her to be thinking on matters of the heart like that! She was too upset, too angry at herself for putting up walls and shutting Quinn out. That had been unfair of her, necessary, but unfair.

As the brunette made her way to her house on the quiet street, she watched as the sun started to rise higher in the sky. Mere hours ago she had been a sobbing mess, and now here she was, still a mess, but a mess with a plan. Rachel Berry would never be caught dead without a plan. While Quinn slept, Rachel thought of a plan. A brilliant one that she needed to PowerPoint as soon as she returned home.

As she started up her driveway a few minutes later, she couldn't shake the nagging feeling that she was being watched. Rachel shook it off and chalked it up to nerves and lack of sleep as she made her way through her front door, fully intending to berate her fathers on the notion that they were so neglectful as to not realize that she had been gone an entire day.


	7. Seven

Deus Ex Machina [god in the machine]

* * *

><p>Rachel Berry was not a forgetful girl. It simply was not programmed within her superior DNA to forget things that were important. Ever since she was six months old she had kept track of exactly when her birthday was; everything down to the exact minute (4:48 A.M.) to the moon cycle on that day. That's why, when Rachel woke up the morning after her encounter with Quinn, she was shocked to see balloons and streamers surrounding her bed and her overeager fathers at the foot of her bed, staring at her.<p>

"What's going on?" Rachel groggily questioned as she pushed herself onto her elbows and blew her bangs out of her eyes.

Hiram feigned a gasp and clutched his hand over his heart as he turned to his husband and said, scandalized, "Leroy, I think the little teenager has forgotten her own birthday!"

Leroy looked down at his husband with equally with eyes and said, "I believe you're right, darling! Does that mean we can take back the music note styled vegan birthday cake that we ordered special?"

Rachel gasped as she launched herself out of bed and skidded across her room in her footy pajamas towards her calendar. The little diva gasped again as her finger stopped on the circled date, December 18th, her birthday, indeed. "I forgot my own birthday," she whispered to herself under her breath as her eyes stayed glued to the calendar, "How did I forget my own birthday?" She guessed her plans of meeting Quinn at the school auditorium would have to be pushed to another day.

"Sweetie, I do believe that's what happens when you put someone before yourself and focus on them more," Leroy said, mumbling the "oomph" he let out when Hiram elbowed him in the ribs.

"What your father means," Hiram delineated, "is that you've put Quinn and those ungrateful glee children before your own needs, and that's how you forgot your own birthday. There's a first time for everything."

Rachel slowly turned from the calendar and, as if she had heard known of what they had just said, and enquired, "Did you say vegan birthday cake?" as she made her way out of the room and down the stairs, leaving her fathers behind her.

Rachel heard their laughter trailing behind her as she skipped down the stairs. However, halfway down the stairs, her father's laughter seemed to sound as if it was too far away, and Rachel's feet seemed to slow down as she bounded down the stairs. Just as if time had completely slowed down, Rachel furrowed her brows in confusion as a wind tunnel opened itself up and pounded on her eardrums as she silently wondered why it was taking her so long to get down the stairs and what was going on.

That thought had no sooner coiled around her brain when a black figure stepped around the corner and stood at the foot of the staircase, staring directly at Rachel. The brunette briefly wondered if her fathers were behind her, and she thought that she should probably check to see if they were, but as soon as her eyes locked on the face of the man, where his eyes should have been if he'd had any, the wind tunnel she had been hearing was immediately replaced with the sound of a sickly shriek.

Unable to stop herself, Rachel helplessly began to fall as she lost her footing and began plummeting towards the black figure. Just its presence alone had her filled with unspeakable horror, and Rachel briefly wondered if she was about to die and if her fathers really could get a refund on that cake.

Suddenly, there was a loud cry that drowned out the black figure's death shriek, and Rachel recognized this new voice as soon as she heard it. Within a second, the black figure was gone and Rachel was engulfed in complete torturous pins and needles again before hitting the wall across the small hallway from the staircase. She only hit it with a dull thud, though, because she hit something that slowed her down.

"Ra-" Rachel heard, foggily and distant, "Rach-Rachel open your eyes." So Rachel did, slowly. She blinked up at her fathers' worried faces from flat on her back.

"Rachel," Hiram breathed out in relief, "Are you all right? My goodness, that was quite the fall. Here, Leroy, get her up."

Leroy bent down and used his strong arms to help Rachel up and into a chair in the dining room. For her part, the brunette was still trying to process what had just happened and wrap her mind around the fact that it had all happened in the span of about five seconds.

"Did you see that?" Rachel quietly asked Leroy as Hiram puttered around the sink, getting Rachel a class of water.

"See you fall? Yes, baby, I saw that."

"No," Rachel urged, "Did you see anything at the bottom of the stairs?"

Leroy stared at Rachel carefully before shaking his head. "No, I didn't," he said, "we were right behind you, Rachel; we would've seen if there had been anything down there."

Rachel nodded slowly, blinking rapidly as her gaze lowered to the glass of water that Hiram had just set on the table. She took a drink of the water and shuddered as she felt path that the ice coldness took throughout her body. She didn't bring up the black figure again, but she did wonder where Quinn went.

* * *

><p>Three hours and two pieces of cake later, Rachel finally went upstairs to change. Alone in her room, she cautiously looked around to make sure she was actually alone. Closet, check. Under the bed, check. Behind her doors, check. Check. Check. Check. Finally, Rachel flopped onto her bed and let out a shaky sigh. There was only one explanation for what that thing had been, though Rachel didn't want to believe it.<p>

Regardless, only one word was flashing in her mind: Ombra. She tried to push it away, push it back and lock it away in the back of her mind so she wouldn't think of it. Quinn's words flashed through her mind, telling her that thinking about them was like calling them. Still, from the second the black figure stepped in front of her, Rachel had the nagging notion at the back of her mind that they had found her, this was it.

Quinn. Quinn had saved her, again. The voice Rachel had heard was Quinn's, and the Ombra had disappeared after the cry had been shouted. "Quinn!" Rachel nearly yelled at the empty room as she sat up on her bed with her feet dangling off the edge, "Quinn."

Nothing. The hopeful smile that had appeared on Rachel's face slowly faded. "Quinn?" she repeated, quieter. Nothing.

Silence. Rachel's eyes flickered across the room as she waited for a sign, anything, any noise from the girl, but she was met with nothing.

Ten minutes of agonizing silence passed before Rachel noiselessly got up and headed to her closet. She pulled on a pair of Capri's and a pink sweater with a terrier on it. Rachel clipped her bangs back with a pink barrette and slipped on her Hush Puppies. She crossed over her keyboard rug and leaned on her vanity counter as she gazed into the mirror at herself.

Rachel met her own eyes and almost didn't recognize herself. She couldn't remember a time where she had such dark rings under her eyes from lack of sleep, which she felt was ironic, because she had spent the past two weeks not leaving her bed.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard the doorbell from downstairs followed by her father calling her downstairs.

Great, she thought as she cast one more look at herself before making her way downstairs. She took the steps two at a time until she hit the first floor and stopped dead in her tracks.

"Noah?" Rachel questioned hesitantly, "What are you doing here?"

Leroy hesitantly left them alone in the alcove by the front door, and Rachel leaned against the table by the door as she watched Puck run a nervous hand over his mohawk.

"Well, two reasons," Puck began, not leaving the doorway, "First is this." He pulled his other hand out from inside his brown suede jacket and handed Rachel a rectangular shaped box wrapped in Star Wars wrapping paper. "Happy birthday," he said, almost whispering, "I bet you thought I forgot, huh? Well I didn't 'cause I'm a friggan awesome Jewbro."

Rachel involuntarily smiled as she took the box from Puck. Delicately, she unwrapped it and pulled out a gleaming, golden Star of David necklace. Rachel bit her lip as a few stray tears welled up in her eyes. "Thank you so much, Noah," the brunette breathed out as she reached up and put the necklace on. She brushed her fingers against the star as she looked up at Puck, "And the second reason?"

Puck licked his lips nervously as he looked around and over Rachel's head, making sure they were alone. "Can I talk to you, in private?"

Rachel nodded as she nodded towards her room. Puck shut the door behind him as he followed her up the stairs and into her room. Rachel watched him take a deep breath and take in his surroundings before running his hand over his mohawk again.

"Have a seat," Rachel urged as Puck took off his jacket and scratched his chest over his black collared shirt.

"What can I do for-"

"It's about Quinn," Puck said bluntly, his mouth moving wordlessly after, as if he was shocked that he'd managed to say those three words.

Rachel stopped pacing dead in her tracks as she met Puck's eyes from across the room. She took a seat in her wooden chair and stared across at Puck who was seated on the edge of her bed.

"Quinn?" Rachel repeated, dumbly.

Puck rolled his eyes and frowned. "Don't play stupid, Berry-"

"I'm not playing anything, Puckerman," Rachel snapped abruptly, fed up with being talked down to by her teammates, "It's an honest question because right now I'm wondering why you came to talk to me about-"

"A dead chick?" Puck said, taking his turn in interrupting her.

Rachel blinked, momentarily taken aback by the use of the term dead when referring to Quinn. "Yes," she whispered after a brief hesitation, never leaving Puck's eyes, "a dead chick."

Puck stared hard into Rachel's eyes before stating, not asking, "She's your ghost, isn't she? Finn says you're insane because you've been hunting and now hanging out with a ghost, but I believe you. Shit, I think I believed you when your dads showed up at the hospital to save you and you said we dragged you from _Quinn's_ house. The night I told you about the Fabray's ghost, I never said her name."

Rachel cocked her head and creased her forehead as she looked at Puck in complete shock. "Y-you actually believe me?"

"I have an older brother, you know," he said, as if changing the subject.

Rachel's chest tightened but she remained quiet as she waited for Puck to continue. "He's twenty-six now," Puck added, "Maybe twenty-seven, I don't know, it's been years since I've seen him."

"I didn't know that, no. However, I'm not-"

"When he was a sophomore in high school he was involved in a really bad car crash," Puck said as he broke their gaze and glanced at his hands in his lap. Rachel couldn't breathe as the gears in her mind started turning out of control. No…it couldn't be.

"His name's Michael," Puck said, abruptly bringing his eyes back to meet Rachel's.

As if he knew that was the last puzzle piece Rachel needed, he leaned back on his elbows and waited for her to react.

"Your brother killed Quinn," Rachel exhaled.

Puck said nothing as Rachel's teary eyes met his.

"What happened, Noah? Was he charged with anything?"

Puck sat back up and shrugged. "He was underage, I mean it's not like they could'a sent him to prison for murder. He was kicked out of McKinley and sent to juvie until he hit 18. I was only eight, but I remember that once he was out of there, he never came home. He just ran. I saw him once at the mini-mart by my house before he left. Mike was…" Puck trailed off, shuddering at the memory, "he was fucked up. He kept talking about being haunted and seeing Quinn everywhere and that he needed to get out of Lima. So he did, and I haven't seen him since."

Rachel wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand and brought her hands up to rest at the bridge of her nose. Puck waited in silence for Rachel to process everything.

Eventually, she raised her eyes to meet his. "I think I love her, Noah."

The boy's eyebrows shot up as he dropped his widened eyes to the floor. Rachel briefly wondered if maybe she had said too much, but then Puck smiled.

"I remember her, you know. She was hot," he said through a laugh and smiling when he earned a small laugh from Rachel, "I mean, hot by an eight-year-old's standards but, whatever."

"Noah," Rachel whispered, only half-chastising.

"Sorry, Berry."

"Thank you for believing me," she added firmly.

Puck shrugged. "Just let me know if I can do anything to help. I bet it sucks balls to be in love with a ghost. I just have two favors."

Rachel arched an eyebrow, ignoring his in love remark. "And they would be?"

"One," Puck counted off on his fingers, "Let me talk to her sometime. Two," he added another finger, "Don't go doing anything stupid so you can be with her-"

This immediately caught Rachel's attention. So much so, that she completely tuned Puck out when he added a third favor of making out in exchange for giving her the information that he did. Don't do anything stupid to be with Quinn? What if that was it? What if that was why Quinn was there? Maybe Rachel was dying, or meant to die, and Quinn was there to take her to her life after death!

"Rach? Is that a no to making out?"

* * *

><p>"Rachel," Finn greeted, almost in relief, as he opened the front door to his home and saw the tiny brunette standing there on the porch.<p>

Rachel glanced back to Leroy, who was in the car waiting for her at the end of the Hudson driveway, and wrapped her coat tighter around her. "Finn, I need to have a word with you."

Finn's grin faltered as he looked over her head at Leroy and then stepped aside. "Do you want to come in? Kurt's down in his room with Blaine and mom and Burt are out."

Rachel nodded as she worried her lip between her gleaming teeth, agreeing, "All right, Finn," and followed him inside. She kept her head high as she walked past him and into his kitchen where she took a seat at their table.

Finn dragged a chair up next to her, turned it around, straddling it as he sat down, and faced her. Rachel inwardly winced against the hopeful gleam in his eyes as he asked, "How are you? You look tired as hell."

"I'm all right, Finn," Rachel said as she suppressed an eye roll at his tactlessness, "but I did not actually come here to talk about myself."

Finn looked a little surprised but nodded seriously. "All right, what's up then, Rach?"

"We're over, right?" Rachel vocalized, blunter than she'd meant to.

Finn paused. "I mean, you did call me mentally unstable and tell me I needed help and then physically dragged me against my will to a hospital to get me locked up and I did say you needed to find another girlfriend so, I am correct in inferring from all of that that we are still over, right?"

Finn seemed to gape before looking down at his hands then back at Rachel. "I really care about you, Rachel; I just wanted to help you…."

"And I understand and even appreciate that, Finn," she clarified, "but that doesn't change the fact that you went behind my back and lied to me over dealing with Quinn, then going behind my back again to get me locked up because you legitimately think I'm crazy."

"I think you broke up with me unfairly," he stammered out, almost angrily.

Rachel's gaze softened as she smiled briefly. "Because you were only trying to help me, right?" she supplied.

"Right," Finn said, grabbing onto the lifeline with relief.

"What day is it today, Finn?"

"Uh, Friday?"

The brunette smiled and took his hand in her own. "Finn, you know you're one of my best friends, and you have been for a while. However, I think that's it, I believe that we're just better as friends."

Confusion and acceptance crossed Finn's features as he gently pulled his hand from Rachel's. "I admit I screwed up a few times, but there's always hope for us, Rach."

"I just came to make sure that it was over, Finn, on both sides. I need it to be over, I need to move on. I think we're taking two separate directions in life now and want different things. Think of it this way, now you don't have me and my crazy holding you back from being prom king and being the glee stud that you want to be," Rachel said with no hostility in her voice.

Finn frowned as he shook his head. "I don't want to let you go," he said firmly.

"I'm not going anywhere," Rachel replied as she placed her right hand on his cheek and smiled, "You know as well as I do that we lost our chance and we're better off as friends now."

"I love you," Finn said firmly, not trying to coerce Rachel into anything, just so she'd know. And she did.

"I know," Rachel said sweetly, moving her hand from his cheek to his neck as she pulled him in for a hug. "We'll be great friends, I think."

"We always have been," Finn said with a weak smile as he watched Rachel stand up to go.

"It's her, huh?" he questioned as Rachel felt his eyes on her back.

She turned and met his gaze as she stood in the doorway of the kitchen. Finn continued, "You fell in love with her, didn't you?"

Rachel's chin rose a little higher as she dropped Finn's gaze and smiled to herself. "Then, for your sake, I hope that she's real, ghost or not, because it would be just like you to fall in love with yourself or some split personality of yourself," Finn said through a soft, playful grin.

Rachel squinted her eyes in a mock glare and huffed as she stormed out of the kitchen. There were few things in life that Rachel was grateful for at that time, but one of the big ones was being okay with Finn.

* * *

><p>"Happy birthday," was whispered into Rachel's ear at exactly 11:37 P.M.<p>

"Cutting it a bit close, Quinn, aren't you?" Rachel asked as she cracked one eye open and glanced at the clock on her nightstand.

"You're lucky I made it back this soon," Quinn said from her new spot on Rachel's bed, next to her.

Rachel opened her other eye and rolled her head to the right where she thought Quinn was. "Thank you," the brunette stated firmly, "for saving me from the Ombra earlier."

Hesitation lingered in the air as Rachel's eyes searched for Quinn. "How did you know it was an Ombra?"

Rachel's forehead creased in confusion before she rubbed some sleep out of her eyes. Blinking sleepily, Rachel tried to wake herself up as she mumbled, "So, I was correct?"

She heard a frustrated exhale from Quinn before a bit out, "Rachel, you need to tell me what happened and how you knew it was an Ombra."

Rachel completely rolled over onto her side so she was facing Quinn. "Where are you?" Rachel whispered, her voice cracking before she cleared her throat.

A quiet sigh was followed by a brief tingling of Rachel's left cheek that trailed down to her left hand that was tucked up under her chin by her pillow. "I'm right here, Rachel," the brunette heard, and by the placement of Quinn's voice, Rachel could tell that Quinn was at eye-level with her, mirroring her position on the bed.

"I just knew," Rachel began once she was sure of Quinn's position and where her eyes were, "it was at the back of my mind from the moment it stepped in front of me at the bottom of the staircase."

Quinn remained silent as Rachel began to feel the tension radiating off her. After a minute, the brunette tentatively broke through the silence with, "Quinn, I understand that we can't discuss these things for fear of them finding us, and I do mean _us_ because I know that you've been trying to protect me from them for a while. However, I think it's time you tell me what I need to do, because they have found me."

There was a brush of electricity across Rachel's forehead where her bangs were, as always, clinging to her forehead and falling into her eyes. Rachel brought her hand up and gently brushed them away for Quinn, as she imagined that's what Quinn was doing.

"I wish I could still feel…." the ghost said quietly, reluctantly, and Rachel didn't miss the clandestine way Quinn hid the "you" at the end of her breath, laced into the way the blond's exhale hitched a moment later.

Rachel suddenly wanted to take Quinn's pain away, to remove the hurt that she heard in the blond's voice. She briefly allowed the Ombra to slip onto the back burner as she scooted a little closer to the patch of freezing air. "I went to Finn's today," Rachel began.

"…oh," Quinn breathed out in surprise as her voice cracked on the questioning inflection she half-heartedly attempted to add to the word.

"Mhmm," Rachel continued, her eyes raking over where Quinn's face would be and inwardly imaging the girl's features, "I wanted to discuss the nature of our relationship and where we stood at this-"

"I can't-" Quinn interrupted.

"Point in time," Rachel added, annoyed at being interrupted.

"Rachel, if you're _seriously_ about to give me the details about you and Finn being back-"

"I wanted to make sure that he and I were on the same page about being broken up and I wanted him to understand that I needed to," Rachel paused, her gaze searching for a broken thought in the space across the room before she smiled and continued, "that I _have_ moved on."

The brunette adjusted her position on the bed a bit as she waited for Quinn to respond.

A soft, "Oh," was all she was graced with.

"Were you really thinking that I was going to tell you that Finn and I were back together? Especially after that-"

"Rach," Quinn interrupted. The brunette's mouth snapped shut as Quinn continued, "As much as I would love to hear this - and trust me, I would love to hear this - I can't. Not right now. Not when the only thing I can focus on is the fact that you were almost taken today and it's driving me _insane_ because I can't figure out how to keep you safe."

Rachel's gaze lingered on the indent on the bed where - "Quinn," she said suddenly.

"Hm?" the blond questioned, clearly buried under her own thoughts.

"You're indenting again."

"Oh, sorry - Wait, what?"

Rachel laughed almost involuntarily as the tears in her eyes took her by surprise. "I can see your indent, now," she said as she tentatively reached her hand out and smiled as her fingertips brushed against a solid cheek.

"This better not be the same crap as last time," Rachel heard Quinn mutter as the blond rolled her face so her nose was nuzzling the brunette's palm. Quinn placed a kiss there.

"Language, Quinn," Rachel chastised as she felt Quinn bring both hands up to grasp Rachel's. Rachel scooted closer, as Quinn did the same, bringing their foreheads together.

"I'm solid again and you're worried about the language I'm using?" Quinn scoffed. Rachel felt the blond's legs curl up to gently press her knees into Rachel's stomach, searching for all possible contact.

"There are other ways to communicate your feelings without using curse words," Rachel murmured sternly as she fumbled for and gripped the hem of Quinn's shirt with both hands and let her knuckles feather against the bare skin underneath. Rachel noted that Quinn was cold to the touch. Not ice cold, but chilly. As if someone had held their hand out of the car window for too long and pulled it back in, only to feel how numb it had gotten.

"I'll leave the long-winded explanations up to you, then, thanks," Rachel heard Quinn murmur, her lips an inch from the brunette's.

* * *

><p>Quinn had her eyes tightly closed as she let herself re-memorize the feel of Rachel's skin pressed against her own. Maybe it was because it had been ten years since anyone had been pressed against her like that, or maybe it was just because it was<em> Rachel<em>, but Quinn felt like she actually had warmth in her body. Like she had taken a long drink from a steaming cup of hot chocolate after being in the cold for hours. Every touch Rachel placed against her skin (was it skin? This ghost thing was so complicated) seemed to boil the blood beneath the girl's fingertips.

"How long do you think it will last this time?" Rachel asked with the air of the question traveling into Quinn's parted lips. Quinn let the question bounce around her mouth and felt how it tasted on her tongue as she let her fingers skim over the goosebumps on Rachel's arms.

"Not long enough," Quinn replied as her eyes fluttered up to stare into Rachel's. She watched the fascination dimmer a bit in Rachel's eyes as the brunette processed her words. Quinn didn't like the way the gleam in her eyes dimmed. "We can enjoy it now, though," the ghost added quickly to soothe Rachel's disappointment.

Rachel closed the miniscule gap between their parted lips and swiftly kissed Quinn. Before her eyes slid closed, Quinn noticed the tears freeing themselves from underneath Rachel's closed eyelids.

"Come here," Quinn said after pulling back from Rachel.

She watched the brunette furrow her brows before looking amused. "Quinn," Rachel said, "I don't believe I can get much closer."

Quinn rolled her eyes before looping her arms around Rachel's neck and pulling their foreheads apart as she tucked the brunette into her collarbone, under her neck.

"What are you doing, Quinn?" Rachel whispered into the underside of Quinn's jaw before Quinn felt her lean up and place her lips there, briefly, as if it were the most natural thing in the world for Rachel to do. As if it was the most natural thing in the world for Quinn to smile about.

"Making the most of this," Quinn replied decidedly.

"What about the Ombra? You said-"

"I know what I said, Rach. Just-"

"Shut up?"

"No," Quinn said, slightly taken aback, "Just talk about something other than all of the bad things going on. Just close your eyes and pretend-"

"I don't need to pretend anything, Quinn," Rachel began, the tone of her voice making Quinn's neck tingle, "you're right here."

The ghost blinked back tears as she held Rachel tighter. After three minutes of counting the seconds and listening to Rachel talk about what she did on her birthday, Quinn stopped counting seconds and began counting the breaths Rachel took. Every time Quinn felt the rise and fall of Rachel's chest under her arms, she exhaled her own forced breath of relief.

Hours later, when Rachel's birthday had been a matter of hours prior, Quinn was still awake. Rachel had fallen asleep in her arms. _In her arms_. The blond raised an eyebrow to the sky as she said under her breath, "Thank you."

Rachel shifted in Quinn's arms and Quinn smiled. Whatever this was between her and Rachel, whatever happened, one thing was for sure…. Dead or alive, no one had ever touched her the way Rachel had. God help her for when the sun rose and Quinn had to leave her personal Heaven to deal with her own personal Hell; the Hell that Rachel had been dragged into courtesy of the Ombra and the God above her that Quinn was seriously starting to doubt knew what He was actually doing.

The brunette suddenly stirred in Quinn's arms, whimpering in her sleep and Quinn immediately ducked her head down to see the pained creases in Rachel's forehead. She was having a nightmare, and it was probably the Ombra's doing.

Quinn sighed and let out a shaky breath as she stared up at Rachel's dark ceiling, tears welling up in her eyes. She couldn't protect Rachel; Quinn was no superman. She was literally nothing. How could she protect the tiny brunette asleep in her arms?

Another whimper escaped Rachel's lips. The blond stayed staring at the ceiling, pursing her lips as invisible tears cascaded down her cheeks and hit the bed with no mark. Quinn was no hero. Rachel needed a hero. Hell, if it weren't for Quinn, Rachel wouldn't have even been in that position.

"God," Quinn breathed out painfully.

* * *

><p>"Quinn?" Rachel questioned the empty air after sitting up in her bed. The sunlight was streaming in through her curtains and Rachel sighed. "Or not."<p>

"You're a year older than me now," was suddenly heard from the chair in front of Rachel's desk. Her laptop was open and on. Google was on the screen and the keyboard seemed to be moving on its own.

"Technically you're nine years older than me," Rachel amended off-handedly as she sat and blinked groggily towards Quinn. "I see you're still solid."

"Damn it," Rachel heard Quinn mutter quietly before she seemed to respond absent-mindedly, "Oh, yeah, sort of."

"Sort of?" Rachel asked, frustrated at Quinn's standoffish behavior.

"Yeah, Rachel, sort of."

Fine, Rachel thought. The brunette pushed her hair back and dropped her bare feet onto the white carpet. Padding across the room, she stood behind Quinn and leaned against the back of her shoulders as she read the computer screen.

"You're Googling ghosts?"

Rachel felt a tingling of hair briefly cross her arms as she imagined Quinn turning to look back at her. "I've never really been able to use this Google thing before, but it's so cool. I'm Googling _physically solid ghosts_."

Rachel bit her lip and turned away. She lifted her arms from Quinn's shoulders and turned to sit on the edge of her bed. "Quinn."

"What?" Rachel got in response.

"Please turn off Google and come have a conversation with me."

"I can't, Rachel. I keep flickering on and off solid wise and I'm having an 'on' moment so I need to keep looking-"

"Quinn!" Rachel yelled sternly. The typing on the keyboard abruptly stopped. The empty chair swiveled to face Rachel.

"What?" Quinn asked calmly, her question hanging thickly in the air.

"What's wrong?" the brunette asked.

"Nothing."

"Quinn."

"Stop it, Rachel."

"No, Quinn."

"I said stop it!" Quinn yelled which caused Rachel's hair to billow from the force of the ghost's energy.

Rachel remained completely stoic. She fixed her hair and met where she thought Quinn's eyes were. "What's going on?"

"Have you _looked_ in a mirror lately, Rachel?" Quinn asked her. Rachel's jaw dropped. "No, Rach, I'm not calling you ugly. But how long has it been since you've actually slept without nightmares? Since you've actually gotten a full night of sleep?"

Rachel's mouth moved wordlessly as she tried to come up with an adequate lie.

"That's what I thought," Quinn continued, "You look like you have two black eyes because your bags are so deep. Rachel, we need to end this."

In that moment it was as if time slowed down as a wave of realization washed over Rachel and across her features. What had Quinn planned while she had slept? Why did she suddenly have an innate sense of fear?

"End what, Quinn?"

"The only reason you're being haunted right now is because of me!" Quinn snapped, "This could seriously screw you up, Rach. It could _end_ you."

"Rachel had been shaking her head throughout Quinn's entire mini-rant. "No, no Quinn you're wrong. None of this is your fault-"

"Yes, it is!" Quinn cut her off, yelling again.

"Would you please refrain from both interrupting me and screeching at me?" Rachel yelled in exasperation as she threw her hands up into the air and grasped at the air with her hands in frustration.

"Not when what you're going to say is wrong."

"That's it, Quinn Fabray," Rachel seethed as she stood up abruptly and loomed over Quinn, "I don't care about any noble and undoubtedly stupid plan that you have. I don't care if you think you leaving or passing on will save me, because I'm going to _assume_ that's what you're thinking. I don't think you grasp the fact that _you_ are what saved me! You are infuriating, Quinn Fabray, because you think I'm dying now, when I didn't even know how to appreciate or love life until you came along!" Rachel's chest heaved as she listened to the stung silence after her tirade. She couldn't take the silence after a few seconds, and so Rachel turned and fled from her room and into her bathroom, locking the door behind her.

Rachel leaned against her marble sink as she took in her reflection in the mirror. Quinn was right, the bags under Rachel's eyes almost looked like two bruised eyes. Rachel gingerly traced the shades of black under her eyes as she sniffed lightly. She wasn't going to let herself cry.

"Here," Rachel heard whispered into her left ear as a tissue floated in the air in front of her. She let out a choked laugh while simultaneously not being able to fight her tears anymore. Rachel felt a solid form press into her back as a chin was laid onto her left shoulder. Staring into the mirror, Rachel only saw her own reflection. She cried harder.

"Rachel, maybe it's time for me to move on."

* * *

><p>The snow blanketing the sidewalk crunched under Rachel's pink, plastic boots as she walked to her favorite park a week later. Christmas day for non-Jews and other non-Christian religions, Rachel thought. To her? Just a quiet day where she could wander around a peaceful Lima and smile at the adorable reindeer and pretty colored lights adorning the neighborhood's houses.<p>

She sniffed against the chilly wind that had kicked up on an otherwise calm, cloudy day as she adjusted the strap of her duffle bag higher on her shoulder. Rachel reached the park and immediately made her way over to the swing-sets. After brushing some snow off both of the seats, Rachel sat on one and began gently swinging.

"Hey," a familiar voice said, ghosting through the wind as the swing next to Rachel moved in the breeze.

Rachel turned her head to the right, her yellow beret dipping low on her head before she pushed it back up with a thumb. "Merry Christmas, Quinn."

"Merry Christmas, Rachel," Quinn returned as Rachel felt the familiar pins and needles wash over her right side. She leaned her head into it and smiled as she closed her eyes, imagining the hug. When the tingling left, Rachel stuck her hand out towards the swing next to her and groped the air before her right hand started tingling. Quinn touched her hand.

"Today's an off day, I see," Rachel said sadly as she stared at Quinn.

There was a beat of silence where Rachel imagined Quinn nodding. "Looks that way," the blond said, "That's okay, though. It's Christmas, you know? This is the first year that the house has had lights and a tree and everything," Quinn said silently, ending in a whisper, and Rachel could imagine the accompanied shrug that went with that statement.

"I enjoyed doing that with you though, you know," Rachel said as she smiled at the memory of her dragging a fir tree into the Fabray household in the dead of night with Leroy's help and Quinn and Hiram shouting orders from inside the house.

Quinn laughed loudly and Rachel reflexively smiled. "That was wonderful, especially when you got lost in the tree on the way in."

"Yes, hilarious," Rachel deadpanned as she rolled her eyes while cracking a small smile, "Speaking of, my fathers gave me permission to stay over tonight."

Quinn was silent and Rachel turned her head and furrowed her brows. "Unless you've changed your mind and wish to-"

"No, no it's not that," Quinn quickly cut in, "it's just weird to think that exactly a week ago I was telling you that I was planning on moving on and now here we are."

"Here we are," Rachel whispered as the chill of the air made her breath swirl in front of her. She thought back on how she had sobbed in the bathroom and how Quinn had held her. How Rachel hadn't been able to say to Quinn what she had wanted to, what she knew would keep Quinn with her. But it had been as if Quinn had heard it anyway, because she stayed with Rachel all day. And then came back the next day. And then answered the door two days later when Rachel came knocking.

It was like Quinn had understood what Rachel hadn't been ready to say, and by Quinn sticking around, it had been like Quinn's heart had said it back.

The brunette cleared her throat and shook her head. "None of that, now, come on! It's Christmas day, a jolly day, indeed. It may be a non-solid day for you, but I consider it a - what do you call it? - Christmas miracle, that's it, that you are still having solid days. Let's head to your house now. I'll build a fire and put on_ It's A Wonderful Life_ and you can open your present."

She heard a groan from next to her. "Seriously? You're going to force me to watch a movie about a man who is basically turned into a ghost. And wait, I told you not to get me anything."

Rachel rolled her eyes as she hopped off the swing and stopped Quinn's swing from blowing in the wind so the ghost could get off (even if that was undoubtedly unnecessary). "I'm making you watch a timeless classic, Quinn. I'm appalled that you, being the big classic movie buff, haven't seen it yet," she said, ignoring the present part of Quinn's statement.

"I tend to avoid movies that remind me of my own existence," Quinn said from next to Rachel as they fell into step together as they made their way to Quinn's.

"That's certainly no excuse, Quinn," Rachel said, ignoring the snort of amusement from next to her. "Besides, I've never celebrated Christmas, so of course I Googled it and made a PowerPoint on the proper methods."

"Of course you did," Quinn responded blandly, "Please tell me you don't have any fruit cake on you."

Rachel let out a "Pfft" followed by a quick, nervous laugh as her eyes darted down to her duffle bag and then back to the sidewalk in front of her, "Nonsense."

There was a loud groan from Quinn as the familiar cherry tree, now covered in snow, came into view. Rachel stifled a giggle as they made their way up the front steps and she opened the door, holding it open for Quinn so the ghost didn't have to walk through it.

"Thanks," was whispered into the air as Rachel nodded and shut the door behind herself as she walked in after Quinn.

The Fabray house had been decorated, indeed. It had been Rachel's idea, days after Quinn had decided to stick around, to give Quinn a proper Christmas. It hadn't even occurred to her until four days before Christmas, when she saw a TV program about a dancing snowman that Quinn hadn't had anyone to celebrate Christmas with in ten years, and how lonely that must have made her feel. Once Rachel had thoroughly researched the holiday and drawn up a PowerPoint, she presented her ideas to her fathers. They had readily agreed and helped Rachel show up at Quinn's with the biggest Christmas tree that the Berry's could find. Admittedly, a nine-foot tall fir tree had been a bit much, but Rachel had insisted only the best for Quinn.

After the tree had been placed and Quinn had reluctantly shown them where the other decorations were, the Berry's made a night and day of adorning the Fabray house. If the neighbors questioned why the only Jewish, gay male couple in town and their 5'2" daughter had gone out at midnight and comically hung up lights on the Fabray house while singing classics such as Jingle Bells and Deck the House, they didn't show it.

It took Rachel falling off the roof once to decide she was better fit to decorate the inside with Quinn. And decorate she did. There were golden and silver lights strung up around the entire house, mixed with wreaths and holly. Little animated Santas and reindeer statues were neatly placed around the house. The regular (non-used) silverware and plates were replaced with Christmas (non-used) silverware and plates.

Both Rachel and Quinn had decorated the Christmas tree itself on a day where Quinn had been solid. The girls had taken turns hanging up the many Christmas ornaments after Quinn had strung the colored lights onto it. Rachel had asked Quinn what the story behind each ornament was, and so Quinn told the stories behind each as best as she could remember.

Rachel had also saved the putting up of the manger for when Quinn had been solid, and she pretended to not notice the tears that laced Quinn's voice as the blond had thanked her for the gesture.

As the girls walked into the highly decorated house, Rachel smiled. While she didn't celebrate Christmas, she had to admit that the decorations were beautiful. "Do you want anything to drink?" Quinn asked her from in the kitchen, "You still have your almond milk crap in my fridge and some other fruit, water drink things."

Rachel rolled her eyes as she locked the front door and shrugged out of her red pea coat a took off her yellow beanie, hanging them both on the coat hanger. She slipped out of her pink boots and set her duffle bag by them before padding in her socks towards the kitchen.

Rachel stopped when something in the living room caught her gaze.

There were three presents under the Christmas tree, instead of just the one from Rachel. The curious brunette turned and headed into the living room instead of the kitchen and bent down to inspect the tags. Rachel clutched at her chest as tears welled up in her eyes. Under Quinn's Christmas tree sat the present from her, as she had placed it, and two new ones. To Quinn, Love Leroy; To Quinnie, Love Hiram. "I love you, both," the brunette whispered aloud before she jumped a little.

"Are those-" she heard from behind her. Rachel nodded as she turned to smile up at Quinn with teary eyes.

"From my fathers? Yes, they are. Actually…." Rachel trailed off, straightening up and biting her lip. "There's one more, as well." Quinn sighed and said something about not needing any presents as Rachel moved past her to the duffle bag by the doorway. That morning, when she had gotten up and was getting ready to go, there had been a knock at the Berry door.

When Rachel was called down, she was met with Puck standing there, shifting his weight from one foot to another as he nervously clutched a good-sized package wrapped in newspaper. "Can you give this to her?" was all that he had said before briefly hugging Rachel and briskly walking away before he could be rejected. As if Rachel would've rejected it.

She pulled the package out of her bag and placed it under the tree, the silence in the air heavy.

"This is from Noah," Rachel said evenly, slowly, as she kept her gaze on the present.

She hadn't told Quinn about her encounter with him before and she certainly hadn't told Quinn that she was friends (and had dated) the younger brother of the boy that had killed her.

"By Noah I assume you mean Puck," Quinn said.

"Yes," Rachel breathed out, "you know-"

A patch of frigid air passed by Rachel as Quinn moved in closer to the present before speaking, "I know who he is, and I knew about you two, Rachel, if that's what you're nervous about. I'm not a moron, I remember him from when he was younger. He was a cool kid," she finished and then added, "I'm not mad that you know. I'm…glad that he remembers me and believes you."

Rachel moved her gaze to Quinn's face, "You're really not mad?"

"I'm relieved someone remembers me," was the quiet answer Rachel received.

"If it were up to me, Quinn, everyone in the town would know of your existence," Rachel stated firmly, reaching out until she felt a tingling sensation in her hand.

"I'm pretty content with just you and a few others knowing, Rach," Quinn said with a laugh, "but I'm just…shocked that people cared enough, you know? These presents…they're more than I've had in.…"

Rachel heard Quinn begin to choke up and she immediately pulled Quinn close to her, not even being affected by the fact that something had changed in the air and Quinn was solid again. Rachel hugged Quinn and allowed the blond to cry into her shoulder as she rubbed her back. Quinn was switching from solid to non-solid at the blink of an eye those days, so it was nothing for Rachel to automatically gravitate to the blond when she was about to turn solid again.

Rachel let Quinn cry until there were no more dry tears in the ghost's body.

* * *

><p>For the first time in ten years, Quinn was celebrating Christmas. She just hadn't allowed herself to before because, really, what did she have to celebrate? That year Quinn had something to celebrate, though. She had a reason to smile at the twinkling colored lights on her house and a reason to sing along with the Christmas music coming from her favorite wind-up Santa.<p>

Late that evening, the ghost gazed at Rachel, in a green and red reindeer sweater, sitting on the floor with Quinn's wrapped presents in front of her with the TV behind her blaring Christmas Vacation and scrunching her nose up in contempt at every curse word from Chevy Chase's mouth. Quinn cocked her head as the fireplace from across the room shone light on Rachel's gorgeous features. Rachel looked up at where she knew Quinn was, and smiled. Quinn smiled back.

"Come open your presents, Quinn." And so she did. Quinn opened Hiram's gift of about a dozen classic books that she had mentioned in passing to Rachel once about her wanting to read them. That made her cry. She then opened Leroy's gift and carefully read the title of the twenty classic horror films that the man had given her. Once again, she cried. Tentatively, Quinn opened Puck's present, and Rachel scooted a little closer to Quinn as she opened it. Once the newspaper wrapping was torn away, Quinn ran her fingers over the material of her varsity Cheerio jacket from high school. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she looked up at Rachel, who also had tears in her eyes as she saw the word 'Fabray' printed on the back.

"He stole this from me a few days before the crash," Quinn explained, "He had a crush on me and half of the time he and I got along better than Michael and I did. He promised he'd give me it back when he was old enough to date me. I remember calling him a little shit and making him promise to not make any voodoo dolls out of the material," she finished with a laugh.

Rachel had tears in her eyes, Quinn noticed, but a smile on her face. "That sounds like Noah," she said, "I just can't believe he kept it."

"I can," Quinn said while nodding, "he was little, but we were friends. He probably felt like he had to keep it to keep the promise." She saw Rachel nod her head and bite her lip, and Quinn got an idea.

The blond leaned over and placed the jacket on Rachel's shoulders. Rachel whipped her head and stared at Quinn with her huge, shocked, brown eyes. Quinn smiled. "It looks better on you."

Rachel nodded her head numbly as she pulled the jacket off her shoulders and turned it over in her hands. Quinn couldn't explain the tightening in her chest as Rachel ran her fingers over Quinn's last name on the back. "Merry Christmas, Rachel," Quinn said in an attempt to break the silence.

"Thank you, Quinn," Rachel said through tears. Quinn couldn't remember the last time she'd had such an emotional Christmas.

Finally, Quinn opened Rachel's present and gasped. "You got me a record player," she said in shock as she carefully lifted the machine out of the box.

"I was having the hardest time figuring out what to get you," Rachel admitted, "Until I saw all of the records up in the attic here in a giant box with your name printed on it. I'm sure I wasn't actually supposed to open it but of course, I did anyway, and I was shocked at what I found. However, I couldn't find a record player to play it on, and trust me, I scoured the entire house."

Quinn laughed at Rachel's bluntness as she ran her hand over the old player before cocking her eyebrow in realization. "This is yours."

"It is," Rachel agreed, "along with all of the vinyl at the bottom of that box."

Quinn stared at Rachel in shock before looking into the box and seeing, just as Rachel said, dozens of records. "Also," Rachel added, "I brought down all of yours from the attic and cleaned them all up. Now, they're all organized in the empty cabinet space under the TV. I left space for your movies and books there, as well."

Quinn's vision was blurry as she finally tore her gaze from the vinyl and over to Rachel's face. "How did you-"

"You love music, Quinn, almost as much as I do, which I didn't think was possible. I figured someone like you wouldn't have all of those albums unless they truly loved them, and to not have something to play them on is a shame in itself."

"But this is yours Rach and now-"

"And now it's where it belongs, its home," Rachel finished for Quinn, her eyebrows raised and nodding to reaffirm her point.

Quinn took one look at Rachel, now wearing her old varsity jacket before looking down at the record player on her lap. She looked around at the lights in the house and the blaring TV, into the kitchen across the hall with food on the counter and then over to the roaring fire. She was suddenly overcome with something strong, something powerful enough to cause huge sobs to wrack through her body, something that felt similar to a heart beating in her chest, hard.

As if Rachel knew, as if they'd done it a million times before, she reached over, placed her hand on the back of Quinn's neck, and drew her in for a brief kiss. This was home, Quinn thought. The house she had been hiding from the world in for ten years was finally a home. Her home. With Rachel there, with the life Rachel had brought into it, it was _finally_ a home. Quinn ignored the ever darkening bags under the Rachel's eyes and the nagging fear at the back of her mind as she leaned over and kissed Rachel again, tugging at her bottom lip with both of her own.

She had someone who remembered her, two men who cared about her, and a girl who (Quinn hoped to God) loved her. Quinn _hoped to God_ that Rachel loved her, because Quinn had never loved someone more in her life than she loved Rachel. Maybe she couldn't always protect Rachel, but she could love her. For then, that was enough.


	8. Eight

Deus Ex Machina [god in the machine]

* * *

><p>Quinn sat on the bottom step of her staircase and watched Rachel walk down the hallway, her arms outstretched and her fingertips slowly brushing along the walls as she moved. She reminded Quinn of an airplane - one of the ones that twinkled high up in the night sky. She figured that a bird would be more romantic, but a plane soared higher.<p>

"Are you ready, Quinn?" Rachel asked as she palmed her car keys and turned at the other end of the hall to look back towards Quinn.

Quinn briefly thought about asking Rachel how she had known Quinn was sitting there, but then thought better of it. "Of course. It doesn't take me as long as it takes you to get ready."

Winter break in Lima, OH was officially over. That was okay in Quinn's book, minus the fact that Rachel would be in school instead of haunting Quinn like she had been. Oh, the irony.

"I'm really excited about this," the ghost admitted as she silently made her way to stand in front of Rachel and gaze down at the brunette.

"As am I, Quinn. How we've gone this long without you hearing me sing simply floors me," Rachel said as she pulled out her cell phone to check the time.

Quinn cocked her head to the side in thought as she pointed out, "Well, I have heard you sing when you've been in the kitchen or something - Is that my Jean jacket?"

The question clearly took Rachel off-guard since the busted brunette looked up from her cell phone with a guilt-ridden face. "I-is it? I found it in-"

"My closet," Quinn said in a bemused tone. It was one of those times when Quinn wished Rachel could see just how high her eyebrow could arch. "How long have you been subtly stealing my clothes?"

Rachel scoffed before shaking her head and pursing her lips. "Quinn," she began, "it was under your request that I stay over here with you as much as possible so that you could keep an eye on me. It's unrealistic to expect me to always remember to bring the proper clothes and as such-"

"I think it's cute," Quinn cut in softly.

"Yeah?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah," Quinn affirmed. As Rachel softly gazed up into Quinn's eyes, Quinn's smile faltered as she took in the ever-darkening bags under Rachel's eyes and the way Rachel only smiled with half of her mouth. The ghost reached down and tugged at the lapels of the jacket, simultaneously pulling them together and pulling Rachel closer. "Yeah," Quinn repeated

* * *

><p>Although she didn't need to, Quinn opted to stick by Rachel's side that first day back to school after break. It had been the end of the day when Rachel got out of her Spanish class with Quinn in tow.<p>

"I shouldn't be surprised that winter break has had no advantageous impact on Mr. Schuester's horrible teaching techniques. I'm fairly certain he thinks ser is the only irregular verb in existence. I mean, we're in 5-6 for goodness sake!" Rachel ranted on as she clutched her books to her chest and made her way through the busy hall.

Quinn floated on next to her as she dropped her head and smiled fondly, adding, "I was impressed with how he managed to mention the glee club a solid five times and almost make it flow with his lesson."

Rachel let out a genuine laugh but stopped in her tracks next to Quinn, forcing the blond to tear her gaze from Rachel and glare at the interruption. Oh God. Quinn let out a groan as she looked up at Karofsky and Azimio, the resident idiots.

"Shit, Berry," Karofsky said as he spun a cherry slushie cup around in his hands. Quinn's teeth clenched together, mimicking her fists as she took a side step closer to Rachel. "They let you out of the mental asylum when you look like that?"

"Am I tripping or was the little freak just talking to herself, too?" Azimio asked Karofsky while keeping his disgusted eyes on Rachel.

The feisty brunette kept her chin held high as she shot them her own disgusted look. "If you two are quite done I have to get to glee club now. You know, the thing that will get me out of this town and away from ignorant bullies like you," Rachel spat as she tried to brush past them.

"Oh ho ho, hold up freak, you ain't going nowhere until we've properly welcomed you back to McKinley with some free slushie," Azimio said with a smirk as he and Karofsky lifted the cups in preparation.

Quinn practically snarled in anger as she lurched forward, took the bottom of each cup in one hand, and hurled the slushies into the two guy's faces.

"What the fuck?" Karofsky yelled as he wiped the red goop from his eyes and flung it onto the ground, dropping the cup next to Azimio's on the white tiles.

"Berry's fucked up or something dude," Azimio said as he gaped at Rachel through the slushie and slunk backwards.

Rachel, for her part, kept a smile off her face as she heard Quinn's heaving breath next to her again.

"Perhaps that's karma," the brunette said with a shrug.

"There's something fucking wrong with you, freak," Karofsky said loudly as he pointed a shaking finger at Rachel.

By then the entire scene had drawn a large crowd as students opted to see the exchange instead of heading home. A familiar, angry voice rang through the hall louder than the excited and shocked mindless chatter of the bystanders. "What is going on here?" coach Sylvester asked as she roughly pushed through kids, knocking a few over, and coming to stand behind the two slushied boys.

"This freak slushied us without touching us!" Karofsky shouted with his finger still pointed at Rachel.

Quinn watched Rachel slowly arch one eyebrow and turn to Quinn's former coach, showing absolutely no fear, surprisingly. "Coach Sylvester, these two were threatening me and somehow their-"

"I don't want to hear it, Lizzie Borden. All I see are two of my best football players covered in slushie and you standing there with two empty 7-11 cups at your feet," the taller woman said with her arms crossed over her chest.

Rachel sputtered, "E-excuse me? First of all, Lizzie Borden was an alleged killer so why you are comparing-"

"Have you not looked in a mirror lately? You look like a walking psychopath who has come to my school dressed as a toddler to fool everyone into believing your only threat to us is us getting whiplash from doing a double take to see if you really are dressed that horrendously. However, clearly your true motive is to derail our entire school system, thus leading to the impending death of us all via the hatchet that you undoubtedly keep strapped to those abnormally long legs under those hideous tights. As an instructor here, I simply cannot allow your serial killer tendencies to continue," Sue finished in one breath.

Rachel's mouth hung open in shock while the rest of the bystanders gazed at each other in confusion. Quinn was seething. This woman had lost her mind.

"Show's over, people!" the coach called out, effectively clearing the crowd. When everyone was gone, she turned back to Karofsky and Azimio. "I suggest you two get out of here before she turns you into toads."

"This is _unbelievable_!" Quinn snapped and yelled in a rage. Coach Sylvester's head whipped around to face Quinn at the same time Rachel's head whipped around to face Sue.

"Who said that?" Sue whispered. Rachel looked stunned at the shock on the usually stoic coach's face.

"W-who said what?" Rachel said in equal shock.

"Oh my God," Quinn whispered.

Sue's eyes widened as she stared at the space next to Rachel, where Quinn stood, and breathed out, "Impossible."

* * *

><p>Rachel turned her body to follow Sue's gaze - turning to face Quinn. Maybe it was because Rachel had been around Quinn for half of a year at that point, but she could never figure out how people only ever saw empty space where Quinn's presence was. No matter what, Rachel saw something where Quinn stood; a ripple in her breath, a reflection against the particles in the air, Rachel always saw <em>something<em>. Or maybe it was all in her mind. Regardless, the way Sue was staring at Quinn made Rachel think that maybe, just maybe, Sue saw what she did.

"Coach Sylvester-"

"Not a word, Rachel," Sue snapped quietly with no real malice in her voice. She was cautiously moving towards Quinn as if in a spell.

"Don't speak to her like that," Rachel heard Quinn say from in front of her. Rachel could hear the fear, the trepidation in Quinn's voice laced with the anger that the reflex of protecting Rachel brought out of her.

"This is impossible. Rachel, what the hell is going on here?" Sue snapped as her eyes searched the space where Quinn stood.

Rachel heard Quinn snap back with, "I said don't talk to her like that, coach."

Rachel watched the wheels turn in Sue's eyes and after a moment of perfect clarity, and with a dull thud, Sue Sylvester passed out. Rachel immediately moved to her side but was pulled away gently by Quinn. "She'll be fine Rachel; she'll think she was hallucinating. Come on, we need to get out of here _now_," the ghost urged as she tugged at Rachel's hand.

Rachel didn't want to leave the unconscious coach, but one glance over to Karofsky and Azimio - Crap, they were still there? - and seeing their horrified expressions got Rachel's feet moving as she let Quinn pull her away. The brunette cast a pleading look to the boys in hopes that they would be too scared to tell the entire school about what just happened. She knew it didn't matter, though; within hours, the entire school would know that Rachel Berry was haunted and somehow used her powers to knock the coach out. She was screwed.

"Come on, let's get to the choir room," Rachel said as she turned towards where Quinn was leading them.

The slap of Rachel's flats echoed loudly around them as she ran through the empty halls of McKinley with Quinn by her side. As they skidded around a corner, Rachel heard Quinn forcing herself to breathe. Rachel heard Quinn sigh in relief when she recognized the choir room door. Rachel heard Quinn, apparently just like coach Sylvester had.

* * *

><p>Quinn watched Rachel throw open the choir room door and linger in the doorway, making a show of standing there to check the clock when in reality she was keeping it open long enough for Quinn to walk through. It was a corporeal day, after all.<p>

"I'm terribly sorry that I'm late on our first day back, fellow gleeks, however-"

"It's fine, Rachel, just sit down," Mr. Schuester, the crappy Spanish teacher said as he interrupted Rachel. Quinn frowned at him as she slowly followed behind Rachel to the red plastic chairs on the risers.

Quinn knew the names of everyone in the glee club. There was Finn who had waved at Rachel as soon as they made eye contact. Then Puck, who smiled at Rachel. Quinn smiled at him. She recognized the girl sitting next to Puck as Lauren, the only girl on the wrestling team. Then there was Brittany, one of the Cheerios, who was sitting next to one of the wheelchair kids; Quinn thought his name was Artie. Speaking of Brittany…aha. Quinn spotted Santana, sitting a few spots away from Brittany, staring longingly at the blonde. Then there was Tina and her boyfriend, Mike - the two that had walked through her that day in the library. Rude. Mercedes was in the front next to the kid who always got bullied for wearing corsets, Kurt. She liked them both. Last was the new kid, Sam. He seemed nice despite the rumors of him being gay. Quinn didn't buy them, anyway.

The ghost knew everyone in the club, and she had liked them well enough up until that moment. The moment when Rachel walked into the room and most of them sneered or looked disgusted. Quinn thought back on how none of them would help Rachel during winter break when she wanted to keep practicing with the club. Charming.

"Holy sweet hell, troll, what drugs did you get for Hanukkah? You look like a starved junkie; I would know, Lima Heights Adjacent is covered in 'em," Santana commented as Rachel sat down near the back. Quinn sat down next to her and lowered her gaze at Santana.

"It's called lack of sleep, Santana," Rachel shot back dryly, "it's what happens when you spend hours preparing for competitions. It's not easy being the best." Quinn smiled at Rachel and shook her head. It was never simple with that girl, even when it came to her lies.

Puck shot Rachel a sympathetic look and Lauren piped up, "Shut it, Lopez. We all know Lima Heights Adjacent is one of the richest neighborhoods in town." Everyone snickered and Quinn watched Santana's eyebrows shoot up as she began to rebut.

"That's enough, everyone," Mr. Schue said, holding a finger up in Santana's direction and shooting her a warning look. He ran over to the whiteboard at the front of the classroom and in large letters wrote the word _Regionals_. "This is what we have to focus on. Not Rachel looking like a druggie or Santana's housing situation."

What the hell? Quinn thought as she reached over and laid a comforting hand on Rachel's shoulder. The blond shook her head and allowed her thoughts to travel back on what had happened minutes prior, letting the curly-haired guy's ramblings float to the back of her mind.

Coach Sylvester had _heard_ her. As if some giant switch had been flipped, her old coach could suddenly hear her. It's not as if Quinn hadn't tried to talk to her before. She had, many times. As if something had happened and now…. Quinn turned her head and gazed at Rachel's profile. After a moment, Rachel turned to look at Quinn. The brunette couldn't even muster up a smile. Now her coach could hear her. Now that Rachel was there. It was as if now that Rachel was getting worse, and the life was basically being drained from her, Quinn was growing stronger. Oh, God. A light bulb flipped on in Quinn's mind. "Oh, God."

"What?" Rachel asked under her breath, eyebrows furrowed together, looking confused.

Quinn's gaze darted back and forth across Rachel's features in shock. Is that what was happening? Were Rachel and she really tied together so tightly that when one lost life, the other gained it?

"Nothing," Quinn lied. This had to end. Quinn had to do something.

* * *

><p>A small hand darted straight up and didn't waver until Mr. Schue reluctantly acknowledged it. "Yes, Rachel?"<p>

"I have a song that I would like to perform for the glee club. I feel that it could really boost the morale of the club after such a long break of not singing and not_ caring_," Rachel said sternly as she stood up and pulled at the sleeve ends of Quinn's jacket.

"Fine, Rachel," Mr. Schue said grudgingly as he flopped down in the stool next to the piano. Rachel really did dislike that man sometimes.

"Brad," Rachel beamed, "Grenade, B-flat." The brunette turned away from the man with the beard at the piano and faced the choir room. Sure, she thought Bruno Mars' song was a bit dramatic, what with the attempted death threat via military weaponry in it. However, she loved the meaning behind it and it certainly was catchy. Rachel had planned to sing this song the day Quinn came with her. She planned to sing it to Quinn, and she hoped Quinn would catch on.

Ever since their first kiss, Rachel hadn't been able to talk to Quinn about her feelings towards her. Not for lack of feelings on Rachel's part, or lack of understanding for that matter. Sure, Rachel had fallen for a ghost. That was a given. On top of it all, Rachel thought as she scanned the judgmental and bored faces in front of her, it's not like she was shy about admitting love. Rachel just felt like no time had been the right time to tell Quinn - well, that she loved her.

When the piano music reached her ears and the band member's instruments kicked into play, Rachel let everything go and focused solely on the song. As the captain of the glee club she had to boost moral, she did. But, as Rachel Berry, she needed to sing the song to Quinn. And so she did.

* * *

><p>Quinn had never been the biggest Bruno Mars fan. His music was fine, but the only time she had been able to hear it had been on the radio and his songs had been so overplayed that Quinn winced every time<em> Just the Way You Are<em> came on.

That didn't matter at that moment, though. It didn't matter that Quinn had heard _Grenade_ five times the day before. As Rachel stood in front of the room, held her hand to her heart, and hit those notes. It wasn't Bruno's song anymore; it was Rachel's song and Rachel's alone. Not only was it Rachel's song, Quinn realized as she slowly raised her head and met Rachel's gaze, but it was Rachel's song to Quinn.

Quinn never once wondered why she had never snuck into the choir room before then to watch these kids perform. It didn't matter to her because it would be the same reason why she had known everyone in the school aside from Rachel until the day she met her. It would be the same reason why no one had heard Quinn speak until Rachel did. Nothing happened until Rachel did. Quinn had seen a lot in her life and she had seen far more in her "after-life" but nothing, _nothing_ compared to seeing Rachel perform. The way the brunette's chest heaved, the way her eyes slid closed, and the way her voice made Quinn feel. When tears began to trail down Rachel's cheeks Quinn had to wipe her own away.

Quinn watched Rachel's eyes open and through her teary gaze, her chocolate eyes found hazel ones, just like they always managed to. When they locked eyes Quinn felt the same peace wash over her that she had the day she heard Rachel's voice after becoming visible. Four minutes of perfect peace left Quinn wondering if maybe she was wrong about her Hell theory. No one could have that voice and not be an angel, she decided.

It was such a shame that Rachel never got to finish the song, though.

* * *

><p>It wasn't until the final crescendo of the song hit that Rachel saw him standing in the back of the room on the back of the risers. The tiny brunette hoped that her audience thought her tears were her typical singing-a-solo tears and that her hands shaking were from the strength that she was putting into the song.<p>

Both were lies, of course. The man standing in the back of the risers wasn't a man at all. It was the same thing that had appeared at the bottom of her staircase and the same figure that had been haunting her nightmares for weeks; it was an Ombra.

It stared at her and Rachel stared back. Where its eyes should have been were the screams of every tormented soul it'd ever encountered. The face seemed to collapse into itself and regenerate every other second, creating a sort of black hole. A blacker shadow of a mouth curved up into a petrifying grin and Rachel's ears were once again filled with a rushing wind tunnel sound.

Her chest began to tighten and her voice cracked as the microphone in her hand dropped and Rachel's knees followed a second later with a dull thud that barely registered to her. Rachel could only focus on repeating one name over and over in her mind before everything went black.

"Quinn."

* * *

><p>"Quinn!" left Rachel's lips in a strangled breath before the brunette's torso met the floor as she blacked out.<p>

"No!" Quinn yelled as she shot out of the chair, pushed her way through the frenzied gleeks, and dropped to Rachel's side. She felt a twinge of something and a hiss ripped through the blond's body as she turned and saw the Ombra. The ghost had sensed that something was wrong when Rachel started to waver both in her song and in her stance. Then everything went downhill so fast and -

"Rachel?" Puck asked as he slid to his knees next to the brunette on the floor. Quinn looked from the Ombra to Puck in surprise before realization dawned on her. Half of the kids in the room were trying to figure out what had pushed them out of the way and the other half were trying to figure out what had happened to Rachel and who to call. She saw Mr. Schue desperately yelling into his cell phone and before she knew it, a large figure was knocking into her.

"Shit, sorr-" Finn froze and his eyes widened, "Q-Quinn?"

Quinn regained her balance and ignored Finn as she looked to Puck. She had to test it. "Puckerman, I need you to help me get her out of this room now," she snapped, silently praying.

Puck's eyes widened but he nodded nonetheless, "All right, Quinn." Awesome.

"Finn?"

The taller boy was still frozen in shock as he hastily tried to control his shaky speech, "Y-yeah?"

Now wasn't the time to question anything, Quinn thought as she watched Puck lift Rachel up into his arms. "You need to make sure that no one comes after us."

He might have been a goofy jock, but Finn knew when he had to take charge. "Got it. Quinn?"

The blond looked up from worriedly studying Rachel's comatose face to impatiently cast Finn a glance, "What?" she asked as she looked back to where the Ombra had been. Gone.

"I don't know what's going on, but take care of Rachel."

"I'll die trying, Finn."

* * *

><p>Rachel wasn't sure if she was dead or not. She felt warm, warmer than she had been able to feel in those past few weeks. She vaguely remembered being knocked out by a horrible pain.<p>

Rachel assumed she was dreaming (if not dead) as she seemed to float through the darkness of her mind. She could hear Quinn's voice whispering reassuringly into her ear and, oddly enough, Noah as well.

Quinn's voice was soothing to Rachel, but something on the cusp of her mind was troubling. Something in her dream that she was trying to avoid by running. She was running but it was gaining, fast. Rachel couldn't run fast enough.

* * *

><p>"Breathe," Quinn whispered. Quinn knew they had to get Rachel out of the building, and Puck's first idea had been the football field, so they ran with it. Literally.<p>

In the middle of the field with Rachel laid out on the football player's bench with Puck's letterman jacket under her head, Quinn kept her eyes on Rachel. The ghost slowly lowered herself to her knees next to Rachel's head and placed a hand on the brunette's chest. Her soft lips grazed Rachel's ear as she whispered again, "Breathe, Rachel, wake up."

Puck kicked at the dirt of the field behind her and shivered against the chilly January air. It was overcast and eerie and everything was still. Still as death, Quinn thought. Quinn leaned up and laid her forehead against Rachel's. She was hardly breathing and Quinn didn't know what to do. She didn't think she could breathe life back into Rachel because Quinn didn't have any life to spare.

"Is she dead?" Puck asked from behind Quinn. He sounded terrified.

"Not yet," Quinn said, her voice hollow.

"I don't know what the hell is going on here, Q. But it just figures that Berry was the one who found you. There had to have been a reason for it, right? You two are like, connected. So, you have to be able to do something to help her," Puck finished, staring intently at Quinn.

Quinn raised her head and met Puck's eyes. How did people find her eyes when they couldn't see her? "You really think I can save her, Puck? I'm the reason she's like this," Quinn snapped as she watched his determined expression fall.

"Bullshit," Puck snapped back, taking a step forward, "Quinn you died ten years ago. Yet here you are in the middle of a football field with Rachel Berry and the little brother of the dude who killed you. If that's not some form of fate then I'll suck my own dick."

Quinn made a face as she dropped her forehead back down to Rachel's. With less than half of an inch of space between the girl's eyes, Quinn opened hers and gazed at Rachel. Her lips grazed the brunette's as she pleadingly whispered one last time, "Breathe, Rachel."

* * *

><p>Rachel's eyes fluttered open as she started in her bed. No, not her bed. Quinn's bed. There was a soft sigh of relief to her right and Rachel turned her head and - froze.<p>

Rachel stared into the most gorgeous pair of hazel eyes that she'd ever seen. "Quinn you're-"

"I know," Quinn said achingly, "I saw."

"This is wonderful!" Rachel said excitedly as she tried to sit up. She didn't understand the look of affliction that passed over Quinn's features.

"Now that you're awake we need to talk, Rachel," the blond said seriously.

Rachel's happiness faded as she searched Quinn's eyes with her own. Nodding slowly, the tiny brunette slid over in the bed and made room for Quinn, who crawled in silently.

Rachel cautiously eyed the blond's stoic face before rolling to her side and gripping onto Quinn's flimsy green cardigan. She could see Quinn. She could feel Quinn. She could hear Quinn. There was no reason for Quinn to be as upset as she was, Rachel thought, as she gently laid her head down on Quinn's chest. Still no heartbeat.

"Do you understand what happened to you in the choir room today, Rachel?"

"I was attacked by an Ombra, again, Quinn."

"What happened?"

"There was a rushing in my ears and it hurt my head, but that happened last time too," Rachel recalled, "then my chest became extraordinarily tight and that hurt. I couldn't breathe very well, and then if I'm remembering this right, I passed out."

"You said my name before you passed out. Everyone heard. I pushed through some of the glee kids to get to you, and they felt me. I had Finn distract them - which, by the way, he can hear me now. As can Puck, and apparently coach Sylvester - and then I got Puck to carry you out. I had to get you out of the building so we took you to the football field. His idea," Quinn stated with an eye roll.

"I dreamt that you were whispering reassurances into my ear."

"I was telling you to breathe."

"Was I not?"

"Barely."

Rachel remained quiet, processing. "Go on."

"After a few minutes you began to breathe again. Pretty much the same time that Puck passed out and I realized I was visible," Quinn bit out, "I got him up and we brought you here. Finn handled the glee club, but I don't know how. Your dads, Finn, and Puck are downstairs."

Rachel looked up into Quinn's eyes. "My fathers are down there?"

Quinn nodded slowly. "I told them everything. Now they're researching what I asked them to."

"The Ombra?"

Rachel felt Quinn's throat flex and she looked up to see the ghost blinking back tears. "Exorcisms."

The brunette's head snapped up and her bangs fell into her eyes. Tears immediately welled up in her eyes and she tried, and failed, to catch Quinn's gaze as she whispered, "For the Ombra, right? That's how we'll get rid of them?"

Quinn stared at the wall across the room for too long before meeting Rachel's eyes. Rachel tightened her grip on the cardigan that didn't feel like a cardigan because, Rachel painfully thought, it didn't really exist. "Don't lie to me," she whispered.

"I think we're pretty much past that point, Rachel."

"You're leaving," Rachel vocalized. Quinn said nothing, just kept their gazes locked. Rachel's everything shut down. She didn't feel. She didn't want to feel. Anything. Letting go of Quinn, the brunette sat up, immediately shooting an arm behind her to steady herself; she was still shaky from the whole experience.

"Come on, then," Rachel said as she swung her legs over the side of the bed. She looked over her shoulder enough to see Quinn's body still lying in bed, "I have all of the research for exorcisms bookmarked in my laptop. I assume you brought my backpack here."

If Quinn was surprised by Rachel's reaction, she didn't show it. However, Rachel thought, isn't that the game they were playing, anyway? Quinn wanted to leave, fine. It was her loss. Rachel didn't need to hear the illogical excuse behind it. Quinn wanted to leave, that was all that was registering in Rachel's mind.

"Rachel," Quinn said calmly as the brunette made her way towards the bedroom door.

"What, Quinn?" Rachel snapped, letting her indifferent mask slip to show her anger, "If you want to leave then why are we still standing around discussing it? Wasting time seems inconsequential now, don't you think?"

"Stop it, Rachel," Quinn commanded loudly, "You're being irrational. Just listen to me!"

"Why should I, Quinn Fabray? You got right to the point, so there's nothing more to be said," Rachel said, crossing her arms and holding her chin up high.

Quinn stared back as her eyes hardened. Rachel watched her stand up and face the brunette. "As if I would just decide to leave you by choice," Quinn said.

"Are you being forced to?" Rachel asked seriously, "Because if you think that this is for the greater good then-"

"Do you love me?" Quinn interrupted. Rachel froze. "It's a simple question," Quinn continued, taking a step forward.

Rachel gaped at Quinn. She couldn't tear her gaze away from Quinn's. She couldn't, until she did. Rachel's eyes dropped as her head turned away. She closed her eyes. Of course, Rachel thought, of course I do. Why couldn't she say it?

After forty agonizing seconds of silence Rachel opened her eyes and looked to Quinn again, who looked like she hadn't looked away from Rachel. Like she never wanted to tear her gaze from Rachel. Until she did.

Rachel watched in horror as Quinn, for the first time since she'd known her, did something that illustrated that she was a ghost. Quinn turned and walked through the wall wordlessly, her face passing through her senior picture that hung there. Rachel knew that Quinn had always gone out of her way to use doors and floors, anything to make her feel more human. Had Rachel hurt her that badly? Why was Quinn acting like a ghost _now_?

"Of course," Rachel whispered brokenly to the empty room.

* * *

><p>Rachel's bare feet padded against the floor of the hallway before she paused at the top of Quinn's stairs. A floor below she heard Leroy arguing with Puck and Finn over what to eat during their research break, and who was going to go get a pizza. She heard Hiram typing away at, what Rachel could only guess, was her laptop. They were all sitting in the kitchen; well, all but Quinn, who was sitting at the bottom of the staircase. The same way she had been that morning. Rachel thought that felt like an eternity ago.<p>

The brunette watched the blond watch the men in the kitchen. Quinn's back was hunched and her head was dipped down. She was tangling her hands together in her lap. Sitting there thinking Rachel didn't love her. Rachel reluctantly turned away and padded over to the bathroom to check her reflection.

Pressing her hand against the cold glass Rachel wished Quinn would appear behind her like she did before. She craved the ghost's touch; she craved the comfort. A small hand traced the harsh bags under her eyes and her sunken cheeks. Rachel wasn't an idiot; she knew something bad was happening to her. She knew the Ombra were hurting her, that they were the bad guys and Quinn wanted to be the hero. She just didn't see how the blond leaving her alone would save her.

* * *

><p>Hiram scrolled through another page on exorcisms, pulled a disgusted look, and shut the laptop lid. Quinn watched him stand up and silently make his way from the kitchen to sit next to her on the stairs.<p>

"When Rachel was three years old she decided that she was a princess," the older man said as he took off his glasses and began cleaning them on his shirt.

Quinn smiled softly as she ducked her head and began picking at her chipped nail polish, imagining a little Rachel running around with a tiara on her head and a pink wand in her hand.

Hiram kept his glasses off and focused on the door at the end of the hall as he continued, "Ever since that day Rachel's been, for lack of a better description, a little introverted and selfish. Not to say that she isn't also incredibly selfless, because she is. Far more so now that she's made friends. Well, she calls them friends at least," he said with a raise of an eyebrow that let Quinn know what he thought of Rachel's "friends". She loved this man.

"When she was six we drove by a horrible car wreck," Hiram began, putting his glasses back on and focusing on Quinn who was still focused on her nails, "a young man was pulled out of the wreck, still alive. No other body was ever recovered, but then again, the car did explode shortly after."

Quinn let out a forced, shaky breath as she finally looked up at Hiram. "Did you ever see your body, Quinn?" Quinn shook her head in the negative, wondering where this was coming from. "Have you ever even been to the graveyard where grave is?"

"No," Quinn said as her mouth ran dry.

"Would you like to?"

* * *

><p>Quinn and Hiram snuck out of the house unnoticed as the other three men continued to argue over pizza and Rachel remained upstairs. "This is a beautiful house, Quinn, you've kept it in amazing shape," Hiram commented as he closed the door behind them and pulled his jacket closer to him.<p>

Quinn shrugged on a Jean jacket that appeared in the air behind her as she nodded, "Thank you."

Quinn threw a glance up to her bedroom window but didn't see Rachel.

Once they were in the Berry's car, Hiram steered them towards the west.

"How do you know where I'm-where the grave is?" Quinn asked quietly and politely as possible; however, she didn't know how polite someone could be when asking that question or if a question like that had ever even been asked before.

"The power of Google, dear," Hiram said as he tossed a small smile Quinn's way.

More silence followed as they drove through the darkened streets of Lima. It was late, late enough that mothers had called their children in and fathers were pulling into their driveways after a long day of work. Quinn glared into the brightly lit suburban windows as the car rolled by them. Screw them all for having peace. Quinn would give anything to bring back Christmas day with Rachel and happiness and now...everything was just happening so fast.

"Here we are," Hiram said as he put the car into park in front of a pair of tall, iron doors that bled into a fence that stretched into the darkness. It was a huge graveyard, the biggest - and nicest - in town. Quinn silently gave her mother props for caring enough to go all out.

"Will you be okay?" Hiram asked as he shut the headlights off.

Quinn laughed sharply and looked back at him, "I'm pretty sure I will be, yes, Mr. Berry. What could possibly happen to me?"

Hiram merely smiled sadly at Quinn as she exited the car and passed through the iron fence.

She had taken ten steps in when she realized she should have asked Hiram where exactly the gravesite was. Oh well, she thought. Quinn needed no light as she let off a ghostly glow making her way between the grave spaces, reading the names that were etched into each stone. Quinn silently wondered if she would run into any other spirits on her little trip.

Finally, in what Quinn could tell was a nicer area, a richer one, she stumbled upon a marble headstone that was almost as tall as she was. Quinn placed her hands into the pockets of the jacket and bent over a bit to read the engraving.

"Quinn Lucy Fabray," she said, biting the inside of her cheek a bit before continuing, "taken from us too early at age sixteen. Forever beautiful. Rest in peace. May 27, 1984 - October 24, 2000." The ghost pulled a hand out of her pocket and traced the engraving of the gardenia that wound around her name and the dates. "Pretty, mom," Quinn said with a small smile. Quinn bent down and reached through the grass on the grave to pull up a handful of dirt that slipped through her fingers seconds later. She wondered what they buried since her body was never found.

There was the sound of crunching leaves behind her but Quinn stayed still; she knew who it was.

Hiram slowly knelt down beside Quinn and scanned the headstone.

"Forever beautiful is completely accurate," stated Rachel's father.

Quinn smiled softly down at the ground, "Thank you, Mr. Berry."

"You know I told you to call me Hiram," he corrected her. Quinn nodded and the two stayed where they were.

"Rachel has had her selfless moments, like I said before," Hiram started again and Quinn silently wondered where he was going with this, "but I've never seen her give herself to someone before."

This got Quinn's attention. "What about Finn?"

Hiram shook his head, "She tried to change him and he tried to change her. She loved the idea of him, sure, but when push came to shove, Rachel wouldn't give up a solo for him."

"You think she'd do that for me?" Quinn asked in amusement.

"She did today, didn't she?" Hiram asked in return.

Quinn stared hard into the man's brown eyes that looked so much like Rachel's. Too much like Rachel's; she could see that even in the darkness. "What are you saying, Hiram?"

"I'm saying that I know what you're doing. I know that you think Rachel's dying and that it's somehow your fault. That if you never came into her life this wouldn't be happening to her right now," he said flatly, disregarding Quinn's shocked expression. "I know that you think if you move on, Quinn, Rachel will be saved. I'm not here to tell you that's not true, because I don't know if it is or not. Up until a month or so ago I didn't even know if ghosts really existed."

"I didn't even know if I really existed until Rachel heard me," Quinn quietly admitted.

"I didn't know if Rachel could ever love someone more than she loves herself until you came into her life, Quinn," Hiram said firmly.

He stood up and brushed his hands off before extending a hand down to Quinn. He helped her up and placed his large hands on her shoulders. "I can't tell you what to do because I don't know, Quinn. This is the family's first time dealing with the spiritual world like this. I do know that Rachel needs help, and I do know that you leaving will hurt her. But maybe it's for the greater good. All I can say is that regardless of what happens, you've become like a daughter to me, and I love you as such. I'll support you in your choice and help you to the extent of my abilities, but I will not help you kill yourself to save Rachel."

"How can I kill myself when I'm already dead, Mr. Berry?" Quinn questioned in frustration.

"How can you be so sure that you're nothing more than a ghost, Quinn?"

* * *

><p>Rachel's head snapped up from the dining room table when she heard the front door open. Hiram walked in followed by Quinn.<p>

"Where have you two been?" Leroy asked hurriedly as he rushed up to his husband and looked down at him and Quinn in concern.

"We just needed to have a little talk," Hiram said with a smile in Quinn's direction. Rachel watched Quinn do her best to smile back at her dad.

Puck and Finn had left minutes before claiming they needed to get home before their moms killed them. Rachel had spent the remaining time convinced that Quinn had somehow convinced Hiram to take her somewhere to get the exorcism performed right then. The relief she felt when Quinn walked through that door must have been written all over her face, for when Quinn looked at her, her gaze softened.

"So, what do we do, then…?" Leroy asked slowly, sadly looking from Quinn to Hiram.

"Nothing tonight," Quinn said, interrupting Hiram. Rachel raised an eyebrow. "I need to think about everything and weigh my options before I do anything permanent," Quinn finished.

"Then we'll be heading home," Hiram said, squeezing his husband's hand as a signal for_ I'll-tell-you-everything-when-we're-alone_.

Leroy nodded and laid a large hand on Quinn's shoulder. "We'll see you tomorrow then, Quinn. You know where we are if you need us. Rachel, we'll be in the car." And with that they left, leaving the two girls alone like that had been that very moment. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

Rachel stood in the kitchen, unmoved, and stared at Quinn who was still in the doorway. "Where did you two go?" she asked softly.

"To my grave," Quinn said matter-of-fact like, "and we talked."

Rachel ached to ask questions. What advice could her dad have possibly had for Quinn? Had he helped? "Was that the first time you'd been to your grave?" she asked instead.

"Yes," Quinn answered.

Rachel hated the awkwardness that hung in the air. She wanted to make it go away. Was that even possible at that point? Had Rachel ruined everything?

"I'll get going then," the brunette said in defeat as she headed around the table and gingerly past Quinn in the doorway.

Rachel made a move to pick up the Jean jacket - the fact that Quinn was also wearing it hadn't escaped her notice - but stilled her hand right before she grabbed onto the rough fabric.

"Take it," Quinn said gently, "It's not like I need it anymore. I have however many copies of it that I need."

Rachel stared at the jacket as tears welled up in her eyes. She closed her hand around empty air and quickly left the house, leaving the jacket on the coat rack and Quinn alone in the kitchen doorway.

Rachel quickly made her way off the Fabray porch, past the cherry tree, and away from Quinn. She could only hope that Quinn made the right choice. Even if Rachel had no idea what the right choice was, anymore.

* * *

><p>Quinn waited until she heard the roaring of the car engine before she moved out of the doorway. It had taken every ounce of willpower that she had to not chase after Rachel. To not pull the brunette into her arms and tell her how much she loved her, and how she never wanted to leave her.<p>

But she couldn't do that. Quinn loved Rachel, which is why she needed to save her. In Quinn's arms was probably the worst place for Rachel to be, the most unsafe.

Tears welled up in the blond's eyes as she rapidly blinked them away. Leaning against her sink with her head dropped between her arms, Quinn took in deep, shaking breaths. Of course Rachel couldn't tell Quinn that she loved her. Quinn should have expected that. Who in their right mind could ever possibly fall in love with a ghost?


	9. Nine

Deus Ex Machina [god in the machine]

* * *

><p>"She's hopeful."<p>

"She's delusional."

"Well that's rude."

"Rachel, listen to yourself," Finn urged as he lounged against the bookcase in Rachel's room, his long legs crossed at the ankles on the key of C on her piano rug.

"Q has been dead for ten years and she's only choosing now to move on because she's in love with you and wants to save your ass, Berry," Puck said from his spot in Rachel's computer chair, tipping it backwards and wearing her Phantom of the Opera mask again.

"So, I'm not entitled to be mad at her for choosing to leave me?" Rachel questioned in a huff as she crossed her arms, sitting with her back against her headboard.

"Not really," Finn commented, shrugging his large shoulders, "it's kind of a serious issue, Rach, that isn't really your decision."

"Oh, you know, minus the fact that they're sort of in love with each other and Quinn's soul is like friggan attached to Rachel's, dude," Puck said as he gestured his arms in a _what-the-fuck?_ motion in Finn's direction.

"Why am I here?" Rachel heard Santana ask from behind her, drawing her attention away from the ping-pong like conversation the boys in front of her were having. The Latina finished applying her third layer of lip-gloss as she held her arms out to the side in question. "Seriously. Like, what in the hell are you morons even going on about?"

"Yes, why is she here?" Rachel questioned as she looked from Santana to Puck in question.

Puck shrugged dismissively and said, "She's devious. If anyone can think of a loop-hole, it would be her."

Santana rolled her eyes and leaned against the doorframe. "So, Berry's been acting even more freaky than normal because she's in love with a ghost and _not_ suddenly on drugs?"

Rachel rolled her eyes and silently cursed Puck for bringing the Cheerio over.

"Basically," Finn said.

"And this dead chick is being hunted by other dead bastards, and now they're after Rachel because they're trying to get to Quinn?" Santana deadpanned.

"Yup," Puck agreed.

"So, she's planning on exorcising herself because if she doesn't go away these other dead dudes are going to off Rachel?"

"I have no idea, Santana," Rachel bit out.

Santana nodded slowly as she appeared to be processing this information. After a moment, she snapped her purse open, threw her lip-gloss in it, and smiled at the room. "You all are loco as fuck. You had me skip school for this? I could've been getting my bread rolls on at lunch today. _I_ suggest you check yourselves into the asylum-"

"Tried that," Puck and Finn said in unison.

"-but I'm out of here," Santana finished with a roll of her eyes as she turned to leave.

Rachel's dads had decided that it would be better for her to skip school that day so she would be in a safe environment when she heard Quinn's final decision. Finn and Puck had come over once they saw that she wasn't in first period, and hadn't left since.

Unfortunately for Rachel, they had brought Santana, who had remained uncaringly silent up until then.

As the Latina's heels clicked against the floor, Rachel lost it. Tears flooded down her cheeks as she felt everything slipping through her fingers. She was going to lose Quinn and there was _nothing_ she could do about it.

Rachel's tears seemed to work, however, and she wasn't even doing it for blackmail that time. Santana paused with her back to Rachel and her hand on the doorknob. Through blurred vision, Rachel watched Santana's shoulders slump as she let out a sigh.

"Stop crying," Santana bit out harshly, turning to face Rachel and rolling her eyes, "Seriously, I don't like it when girls cry, even you and I'm not even sure if you count as a girl."

"Santana," Finn said warningly as he cast a sympathetic look Rachel's way.

"Look, I still think you're all crazy as shit," Santana said to Finn, then turned to Rachel, "but I'll help you. I mean, the best that I can. I know what it's like to lose someone you love," she finished with a shrug.

Rachel hesitantly smiled at the cheerleader. "I appreciate it, Santana, I do, but I don't honestly know how you can help us at this point."

"Why does this Q girl have to be the one to leave?" Santana asked curiously.

Puck dropped the legs of the chair onto the ground and fixed Santana with a look. "Watch what you suggest, S," he said with warning lacing his tone.

"I'm not suggesting anything, Puckerman, I'm asking a question," she bit back.

Rachel's brow was furrowed as her mind wandered back to the thoughts she'd been having a week ago. What if she was meant to die? "I sometimes think Quinn and I are so tied together that if one dies, so would the other. Or that she's come to collect me because I'm meant to die any day now," Rachel whispered aloud, more to herself than to the three people in the room. Her brown eyes widened as she realized what she'd just confessed.

"Oh, shit," Puck muttered.

Finn let out a deep breath as she closed his eyes and shook his head.

Santana raised an eyebrow, impressed, and said, "You'd give up your life for this girl, Berry?"

"No," Rachel clarified, "I'd give her myself and if it's my time to die then there's nothing I can do about that. But I will not commit suicide as a _precaution_," she said, using air quotes, "but this feels completely out of my hands. There's nothing that I can physically do to keep Quinn here if she decides leaving is the best option for everyone."

"So make her think it's not the best option," Santana said as if it should've been obvious.

"And how do I go about doing that?" Rachel questioned in frustration.

"Tell her you love her!"

"You don't!"

Finn and Puck simultaneously turned to look at each other with anger evident on their faces.

"Dude, you can't just let someone you love die for you!" Puck yelled.

"Okay dude, one? Quinn's already dead! And two, this is like her soul that we're talking about! Rachel can't force her to stay on Earth," Finn snapped in return.

Rachel tried to drown out the boy's arguing as she shook her head. Closing her eyes tightly, painfully, Rachel dropped her head. What was she supposed to do? She couldn't lose Quinn. Rachel felt like Quinn was a part of her; and if she lost her? No…she couldn't lose her. Unless-

"Berry," Rachel heard. She opened her eyes and saw Santana standing there with an expectant look on her face, saying, "Come on. Let's take a walk."

* * *

><p>Rachel watched Santana from the corner of her eye. She watched the taller girl pull her leather jacket closed against the wind outside. She watched Santana suck in a deep breath and she watched the cold tint her tanned cheeks pink.<p>

"I believe you," Santana said, snapping Rachel out of her thoughts, "Déjà vu, right?"

Walking along the sidewalk, Rachel absently thought back to all of the times she walked along that same route with Quinn by her side. "You do?"

"Yeah," Santana said as she reaffirmed it with a nod, "You believed me when no one else did at sectionals last year. So, I believe you now. But I don't know how to help."

"No one does," Rachel admitted sadly, "but thank you for trying to help."

They walked together in silence, ignoring the risk of being caught out of school and ignoring the cold Lima wind.

"Santana?" Rachel asked a few blocks later.

"Hmm?" she got in return.

"I know we've hardly ever spoken about anything other than insults - which is why I can't understand why you're being so nice to me now - but, I really don't think you're a bad person," Rachel finished.

"Well you're wrong," Santana said flatly as they approached the familiar park that Rachel knew so well, "I am a bad person. But I'm trying to be better."

"For Brittany?" Rachel asked softly and with a smile. It was nothing new that Santana was in love with Brittany, her best friend and the other cheerleader in the glee club.

Santana threw Rachel a quick look out of the corner of her eye before nodding and taking a seat on a swing. Quinn's swing. "Yeah, for Brittany. That jacket you're wearing-" Santana said as she nodded her head in Rachel's direction.

The brunette looked down and worried her bottom lip between her teeth. She was wearing Quinn's letterman jacket; it had made her feel closer to the blond.

"That's a Cheerio's jacket from ten years ago," Santana said smartly, pushing herself off the ground and making the swing go.

"Yes," Rachel said without hesitation.

"How did you get it?" she heard Santana ask as her swing swung higher than Rachel's, who was still at a standstill.

"It was Quinn's," Rachel explained softly, "Puck had it. His brother was Quinn's boyfriend ten years ago."

Santana's eyebrows rose dramatically as she slammed her heels down and stopped her swing to turn and face Rachel. "Holy sweet hell. So, Puck gave you the jacket?"

"Puck gave Quinn the jacket for Christmas," Rachel corrected, "then Quinn gave it to me."

Rachel watched Santana process the information. The cheerleader cocked her head to the side as if a new idea had just struck her. Wordlessly, she reached out and pushed Rachel's swing around until she could read the name on the back of the varsity jacket.

"Fabray," Santana whispered, eyes widening before she cracked up. "Oh my God."

"What?" Rachel asked as her eyebrows drew together and she turned her swing back around to face Santana.

Santana stared at Rachel in shock and with a newfound appreciation. "You landed Quinn Fabray," the Latina whispered in awe before catching Rachel's confused expression and rolling her eyes, explaining, "Rachel, Quinn Fabray is the most renown Cheerio of all time. She was like coach Sylvester's daughter and when she died-"

"Sue turned into a monster," Rachel cut in, "I know. I know the story…but, I'm surprised that you do."

Santana shrugged. "I walked in on her sobbing over the 2000 National's trophy and she ended up telling me the story. After I got over the fact that she was a dirty liar and never actually got her tear ducts removed, I managed to shed a few tears of my own. I mean, Quinn must have been a pretty special girl to make coach turn into such a bitch, you know?"

Rachel merely nodded. God, she missed Quinn. At that moment, while she was enjoying Santana's company, she wanted nothing more than to run to Quinn and beg her to stay. Beg her to just up and leave Lima with her and -

And leave Lima with her. That was it! If she could just get Quinn out of Lima then maybe…what? Maybe if the Ombra couldn't find Quinn, they'd focus on looking for her and leave Rachel alone, which would keep Quinn on Earth with Rachel! But it would keep Quinn on the run.… However, she had been avoiding them the past ten years so, why not continue? That was it!

"Santana, I think I have a solution," Rachel said in excitement.

"Good, midget, go get your girl. I'll handle the morons in your room since it's not like I have anything better to do anyway," Santana said with another eye roll.

Rachel jumped off the swing and beamed before throwing her arms around Santana's neck. "Thank you for everything, Santana!"

As Rachel was running off she heard a very audible "yuck" from behind her, followed by an "I didn't even fucking do anything."

* * *

><p>Rachel tore up the Fabray driveway and hopped up the three porch steps in one leap. As always, Rachel went straight to the door and -<p>

Hit it. "Ow," Rachel pouted as she absently rubbed at her nose, trying the doorknob again. Locked. "Since when do you lock your door, Quinn?" the brunette asked in frustration as she stomped her foot down.

"Quinn!" Rachel yelled over the loud wind. No response.

"Quinn!" Rachel tried again, louder that time.

"Quinn!" Nothing.

"You are well aware that I can hit a high F when necessary-"

"Stop it, Rachel!" the brunette heard shouted through the door.

"Absolutely not," Rachel stated in a huff as she pulled a face. "Open this door right this minute."

"Go away, Rachel," Quinn said through the door.

Rachel dropped her eyes and folded her arms over her chest, shaking her head. "No."

"I can't have you around when I-"

"Decide to leave me? No, I'd imagine that would make the decision a trifle bit harder," Rachel snapped as her frustration began to shine through, "Quinn, let me in, this is ridiculous. I have a solution!"

The wind whipped Rachel's hair around her face, providing the only noise that the brunette heard for the ten seconds before the door was unlocked. Rachel waited for the door to be opened for her, and when it wasn't, she opened it herself with a huff.

"Why are you being so mean?" the brunette asked as she shut the door behind her and blew her bangs out of her eyes.

"Why are you here, Rachel?" Quinn asked, suddenly appearing in front of Rachel and catching the brunette off-guard.

Rachel took a deep breath and stared up into Quinn's eyes. She couldn't help the smile that overpowered all of her other negative feelings at that moment. Yes, she was in love with a ghost. Yes, she was haunted. Yes, said ghost was thinking the best option for them both was to pass on. But Rachel could actually, _finally_, look into the eyes of the girl that she loved.

"What color are your eyes?" Rachel asked, quite unexpectedly to Quinn but rather on topic for the brunette. "I can't come to a decision on the color."

Quinn's gaze was hard, unwavering, as she studied Rachel's face in silence.

There were many moments over the course of their friendship that painted Rachel a picture of Quinn's love for her. Moments like their first kiss, all of the times Quinn would sneak in to Rachel's room and change the song on her iPod while she was listening to it, random incidents of slushies flying in the wrong direction and missing her completely, and the times Rachel just knew Quinn was watching over her. There were so many little moments scattered around Rachel's mind, like a plain of wildflowers that continuously blossomed and became more beautiful every day. But no instance painted a more vivid picture of Quinn's love for her than that moment right then. That moment, when her ghost's entire world was literally crumbling around her and Rachel asked what should have been considered an inappropriately timed question; one side of Quinn's mouth quirked up into a ghost of a smile and her eyes softened.

"Hazel, I guess," Quinn said, biting the side of her lip in a failed attempt to hide her smile. "Rachel," she began again.

"Wait," Rachel pleaded as she shook her head, "just wait, Quinn." Confident that Quinn wouldn't say anything more, Rachel took a step forward and tentatively pressed her hand flat against Quinn's chest, under her throat, and felt the ridges and hardness of her ghost's collarbone. "Wait," she whispered again, leaning up on her tiptoes to get a better look at Quinn's eyes.

Rachel may not have been able to tell Quinn out loud that she loved her, and she was definitely still mad at the blond for thinking she could just up and leave her, but that didn't change the fact that Rachel _did_ love Quinn. And if she was going to lose Quinn, she wanted to be able to remember the ghost with perfect clarity. So, she studied Quinn's eyes. The way they hardened in curiosity but immediately softened when Rachel's brown eyes made contact with them. The way Rachel still partially saw through them, but could still note the way the green and hazel melted together and were then stirred by slices and flickers of gold.

Rachel's feet were just starting to get sore from standing on her tiptoes, when Quinn's arms grudgingly wrapped tightly around the brunette's waist. Quinn said nothing to Rachel, merely studying her the same way she was studying Quinn, as if she knew what Rachel was doing. Rachel watched Quinn's eyes study her own face and she knew, she knew Quinn was memorizing Rachel just like Rachel was memorizing Quinn.

"I'm going to kiss you now," Rachel stated with her lips a breath away from Quinn's, "and I want it to last because I need-"

"To remember," Quinn finished before she ducked her head and closed the gap between their lips.

Rachel groaned at the feeling of Quinn's arms around her waist and the way their bodies were flush against each other. She was so caught up in the kiss that she didn't notice Quinn pushing her against the door, hard.

The brunette's breath was ragged as she thumped her head back against the wooden door as Quinn trailed kisses down her neck, her lips parted and leaving the sensation of wetness against Rachel's throat.

Rachel's hands flew to Quinn's hair and fisted transparent blond in both hands. Part of her was focused on trying to figure out how something could feel like hair but not have the texture of hair, while the other part was busy feeling absolutely perfect with Quinn on her and everywhere and-

"I can't," Rachel panted out, desperately, as tears welled up and blurred her vision.

Quinn immediately raised her head and dropped her arms from Rachel's waist and whispered, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-"

"I can't lose you, Quinn," Rachel quickly amended, fisting the girl's yellow cardigan in her small hand and crashing their lips together again.

"I never said you had me," Quinn breathed out between frenetic kisses.

Rachel pulled back half an inch and stared evenly at Quinn before shaking her head. "You've always been a part of me. This was always meant to happen, and there's no changing that now. I have some part of you, Quinn, whether you like it or not."

"But that makes it so much harder to leave you," Quinn whispered in absolute terror, breaking Rachel's heart with the hopelessness in the blond's eyes.

"Good," Rachel whispered, her breath swirling in front of her face and passing through Quinn's clouded eyes, a painful reminder of the inevitable.

* * *

><p>"I can't," Quinn said matter-of-fact like. She sat with her Jean clad legs crossed at her calves on a kitchen chair, a see-through image of a glass hall-full of wine in her hand. Quinn winced against the sunlight that was pouring in through the kitchen window. Of course, the sun had to come out on a day where she would've preferred cloud coverage.<p>

"What do you mean "you can't"?" Rachel asked in anger as she turned away from the window and towards Quinn, leaning back against the sink.

"I can't leave Lima, Rachel," Quinn said tiredly.

"Can't or won't?" Rachel asked.

Quinn moved only her eyes from the window to her letterman's jacket on Rachel. "Can't."

Rachel picked up her glass of V8 and made to sit down across from Quinn, doing nothing to block the sunlight because of her stature. Quinn smiled faintly at that as she took a sip of her wine and set the glass in front of her on the table, hunching her shoulders and uncrossing her legs.

"You shouldn't be drinking, you're only sixteen, Quinn," Rachel chastised half-heartedly.

"I'm twenty-six," Quinn said bitterly, "Right?"

"Why can't you leave Lima?" Rachel changed the subject.

Quinn stared steadily at Rachel before dropping her forehead and running a hand through her hair, allowing it to linger there.

She heard the hesitancy in Rachel's voice as she allowed the brunette to piece the story together herself. "Have you ever left Lima…?"

When Quinn let out a broken-down sigh and raised her gaze to the setting sun in the kitchen window, she heard Rachel softly say, "You can't leave Lima."

"It was sort of a good plan despite that," Quinn said through a tired smile.

"What happened when you tried?" Rachel asked.

Quinn's gaze was roaming over Rachel's sunken cheeks as the brunette questioned her. God, Rachel looked awful. Not in the bad way, Quinn thought as she cocked her head and gently ran her eyes over Rachel's complexion, but she looked so sick and so tired. Her cheeks were sunken, her eyes were beginning to become tinted bloodshot red, and the circles under her eyes looked like full on black eyes. The most beautiful zombie Quinn had ever seen.

When her eyes flickered back to Rachel's, the ghost saw amusement twinkling in those brown eyes and she suddenly remembered that Rachel could indeed see her. "I forgot you could actually see me," Quinn admitted, chagrined.

"Is that what you did when I couldn't see you?" Rachel asked gently, "You'd look at me like that?"

Quinn rolled her eyes non-maliciously as her lips quirked up. "I was studying you."

A blush crept up Rachel's cheeks as she brought her lips to the rim of her glass. "Answer the question, Quinn," she whispered over the rim before taking a drink.

Quinn pressed her own glass to her forehead, silently fuming at herself for letting her guard down around Rachel when she was supposed to stay strong. Damn it.

"I might as well tell you the story of what happened after the crash," she said as her eyebrows rose and her head dropped, "Might as well tell you everything."

"You don't have to-"

"I do," Quinn snapped over Rachel, closing her eyes and cocking her head. When she met Rachel's eyes again, she was met with Rachel's non-wavering, intense stare. "I do."

"Then I'm listening," Rachel said from the other side of the small table, shoulders slumped in a way Quinn had never seen on her before.

"After the crash and after I realized what had happened, I went home," Quinn said with a shrug, almost falling into a trance-like state as she remembered the details with vivid clarity, "and I waited for my parents to get home. Looking back on it now, I feel bad for not going to check on Michael, but truthfully I didn't care if he was alive or dead."

Quinn kept her eyes trained on Rachel but the brunette stayed quiet.

"I got home and for the next week I tried to get in contact with them. I thought that maybe I wasn't dead, maybe I just needed to get their attention and they'd realize I was still there. I was in shock, but who wouldn't be, really. Nothing really hit home until I went to my own funeral service, but I refused to go to the grave sight."

"Why?" Rachel whispered.

"I was afraid. I didn't want to pass on, and I was doing everything in my power to not pass on because at the time I thought I actually had control of that decision," Quinn said bitterly before shaking her head, "But I didn't. Don't. Either way, I didn't want to go to my grave, I thought I would be sucked in or something. So, for the next six months after my funeral I just focused on getting someone's attention, anyone's attention. At home or at school, anything.

"But no one heard me. My parents didn't hear me, and when my sister came back home to try and piece together what was left of the household, she didn't hear me," Quinn paused and took a sip of wine. It was odd, but she could feel her mouth running dry. That hadn't happened in a while.

"I didn't know you had a sister," Rachel softly prodded with a tiny smile.

Quinn nodded as she stared a hole through the table. "Her name is Jennifer. She's six years older than me, so she's 32 right now. Married to this perfect Christian man who owns a chain of UPS stores," Quinn said with a jaded laugh.

"You don't like her?" Rachel guessed.

"I don't know her," Quinn said with a shrug, "We were never close as kids and she went off to college when she was 18, so I was too young to really care. All I know from her is what I saw after I had died, and what I saw I didn't like. She was like a clone of my mother, the perfect daughter," Quinn said with an eye roll. After a second she continues, "I never would have lived up to that."

"Would you have even wanted to?" the brunette across from her questioned with her nose turned up in disgust.

Quinn shot her a half-hearted crooked smile as she shook her head, "No. But I would have at least liked to have the chance of disappointing my parents." The girls lapsed into silence again before Quinn barreled on, "After six months, my sister was tired of being stuck in Lima with my parent's mourning and moping around all of the time. Somehow, and I still don't get how, she convinced them that they needed to move out to California with her.

"She said it would help them heal to get away from Lima, and that it's what I would have wanted. She was always really good at being a bitch," Quinn said with a scoff. "I was terrified, of course, because I didn't want to leave Lima. I was scared that Lima was another thing anchoring me to this world and if I left, I would really leave."

Quinn looked up and could tell that Rachel was getting a sense of where she was headed with this story. She decided to cut to the chase. "Day of the big move, I sat myself down in the backseat of my parent's car and decided I was going with them no matter what. I didn't want to be left alone in Lima, you know? That thought was terrifying. I thought everything was fine until I saw the sign saying "You are now leaving Lima" and I remember putting my hands down and trying to hold onto the seat to brace myself.

"When we hit the sign, something happened. It was like I was pushed out of the car. The next thing I knew, I was standing on the right lane of the highway leaving town, watching my parents' car drive off into the distance. I screamed and cried and tried to run after them, but I hit a wall at that sign."

"It's like you're cursed," Rachel breathed out after taking a moment to process, "Did you try any other methods of leaving town?"

"I circled the entirety of the town limits and couldn't leave. I tried sneaking on planes but that one was worse since I'd just end up in the air after a certain height elevation. I can't leave Lima, Rachel," Quinn finished, "At least not any conventional ways."

"There has to be something that we're overlooking," Rachel murmured in thought.

"After ten years, don't you think I would have thought of everything?" Quinn said in frustration.

"Don't snap at me, Quinn," Rachel calmly chastised.

"Why? You're the only reason I'm stuck here," the ghost hissed, "If it weren't for you-"

"You would still be alone, haunting the halls of McKinley," Rachel finished.

"Yes, you've done what you came here to do, Rachel, you helped a ghost, now why won't you let me move on?" Quinn questioned sincerely. She didn't understand why Rachel wouldn't just let her move on. Was the girl really that selfish? It's not like she loved Quinn, so why was she keeping her there?

"Because you moving on isn't going to help anyone, Quinn!" Rachel yelled.

"It'll help me!" Quinn yelled back.

* * *

><p>Rachel stilled. She met Quinn's intense gaze across the table and realized that she had never asked Quinn why she was leaving. She had never questioned why Quinn felt that leaving was the best option. Sure, she had half-heartedly listened to Finn and Puck's best guesses, and even wagered a few of her own but...Rachel had just been so wrapped up in herself, and in losing Quinn, that she hadn't even bothered to ask Quinn herself <em>why<em>.

"I apologize for yelling, Quinn. My recent actions have been solely spurred on by my emotions and feelings for you," Rachel confessed, raising her eyes from her ducked head to meet Quinn's again.

Quinn remained quiet, eerily so, as she watched Rachel.

"I never asked you why you feel like you need to leave," the brunette said, "and that was incredibly selfish on my part. I'm not sure I really wanted to hear the reason though, because it certainly can't be anything positive."

"Life can't always be planned, Rachel," Quinn stated, "and you can't just force something into your plan if it comes at you unexpectedly. You need to learn that not everything is in your control."

Rachel winced as she glowered at her ghost. "I think I learned that little lesson the day you hit me in the face with a stall door."

"I think you're learning that lesson now," Quinn corrected, "and I think it sucks. It sucks that you can't save me, Rach, and it sucks that I have to do this. Believe me when I repeat that_ I don't want to leave you_."

"Explain this to me, Quinn," Rachel practically begged, "Please tell me your reasoning behind thinking that moving on is the best option. Why do you need to do this?"

Rachel watched Quinn's gaze soften significantly as the ghost took in an unnecessary breath. "You're dying," Quinn said flatly, lifeless, without any emotion.

Rachel was as still as a statue as she tried to not let any reaction show. Her suspicions had been confirmed. She was dying, and Quinn had come to-

"And it's my fault," the ghost said in a quiet, broken voice.

Or not. "How is it your fault?" Rachel asked.

"The Ombra, you know, the things that have been hunting me for the past ten years? Yeah, they're_ killing_ you, Rachel, to get to me. They know you're the one thing that I…care about," Quinn said evasively.

"You mean you're not an angel sent to take me away because I have a terminal illness and am slowly dying?" Rachel inquired.

Judging by Quinn's shocked expression, Rachel wagered that was a no. "All right, well that was one of my main suspicions but since that's clearly off of the table…" Rachel trailed off. She didn't know how to continue. For once, Rachel Berry didn't know what to say.

She was being killed by the things hunting Quinn. Her life was literally being drained from her and…

"You're leaving to save me," Rachel breathed out. The darkness of the kitchen finally set in on the brunette as she realized the sun had finally gone down completely.

Quinn glowed eerily in the darkness of the Fabray kitchen. Rachel thought Quinn looked like a radioactive human being, what with how she glowed but looked so solid. Like she was real. Rachel could pretend all she wanted, but at the end of the day, Quinn wasn't real.

"So, we basically have two options here," Rachel started, ignoring Quinn's eyebrow raise at the word "we", "we can let the Ombra get me and possibly finally get to you, or you try everything in your power to move on and thus leaving the Ombra with nothing to hunt. But what if they still come after me once you're gone?"

"They won't," Quinn said firmly, "They're only after me; they have no reason to so much as think about you once I'm gone."

"Quinn, this is very noble," Rachel said slowly, "but I can't ask you to do this for me."

Quinn scoffed. "One, you didn't ask. Two, why do you care so much Rachel when you can't even tell me that you love me?"

That was it. The giant elephant in the room was finally pointed out.

"Quinn-"

"Why don't you love me?" Quinn asked in a quiet breath, finally broaching the subject and completely letting her walls down around Rachel.

Rachel immediately looked up from her glass wide-eyed at Quinn. Teary hazel eyes stared back at her with horrified eyes. As much as Quinn looked like she wanted to take that question back, she made no move to.

"I never said that I did-"

Rachel was cut off by the sound of the bulbs in the light fixture above their heads shattering. Broken glass rained down as time itself seemed to slow down. Rachel watched Quinn's glass disappear from her hand as the blond jumped up so quickly that her chair knocked over. Rachel didn't know what was going on; all she knew was that the room had gotten colder than the usual chill Quinn provided. She breathed out a ragged breath that swirled in front of her face just before Quinn had her by the arm and was desperately pulling Rachel out of her chair.

"Where?" Rachel managed to choke out as the twenty small bulbs in the kitchen's main light fixture began exploding one by one.

"My room," Quinn's voice said, ringing loudly in Rachel's mind over the shattering of the glass.

* * *

><p>They took the stairs two at a time with Quinn often using her own strength to lift Rachel up when the brunette wasn't going fast enough. The trail they were leaving behind was littered with broken glass and mirrors. The Ombra were hot on their heels and Quinn knew the only safe place was her room. She just had to get Rachel there.<p>

The brunette's feet skidded across the wooden floor followed closely by Quinn's as they hit the top of the staircase. Quinn roughly grabbed the back of her own varsity jacket and took a flying leap into the room.

The blond quickly jumped up off Rachel and slammed, locked, and sagged against the door. The grinding sounds of glass being shattered dimmed and gave way to the soothing music coming from the record player Quinn had put in there.

Rachel pushed herself up and took deep, steadying breaths. Quinn watched Rachel's chest heave and waited for the girl to get her bearings before Quinn said anything. The sounds of the_ Breakfast at Tiffany's_ soundtrack softly blanketed the room and Quinn absently sent a prayer of thanks up for her choosing that over the_ One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest_ soundtrack album.

"Did they hear what you said?" Rachel finally asked, effectively drawing Quinn's attention back to her.

"Oh, probably," Quinn heaved out. This was great. Her enemies now knew her one plan for saving Rachel. Not only did they know it, but they jumped in to stop it.

"Why are we safe in here?" Quinn heard Rachel ask from behind her closed eyelids.

Without looking Quinn answered, "I have _no_ idea. They won't come in here, though. So as long as you're in here, you're safe."

"What about _you_?" Rachel retorted, standing up to look at Quinn through the darkness of the room.

Quinn remained silent as she hit the lights. Truthfully, she didn't care about herself. There wasn't much more that could happen to her at that point. Still, she didn't think Rachel would take too kindly to hearing that.

"I'll be safe here, too. It looks like we'll have to stay in here until they leave again," Quinn stated as she crossed the room and took a seat on the chair. After Christmas, Quinn had made some efforts in making the room a little more human-friendly and a little less Quinn-shrine-like. She had gotten Rachel to help get a small TV into the room on a desk in the corner. Quinn herself had dragged in a chair so the only sitting furniture wasn't just her bed anymore.

The final touch had been Rachel's record player. Quinn had briefly considered keeping it in the kitchen but changed her mind and set it on the other side of the small desk. Quinn remembered Rachel's laugh when the ghost had told her she'd made it human-friendly.

"What if they don't leave?" Rachel asked a moment later, voicing the dreaded feeling that had been clutching ever so tightly at Quinn's heart.

She didn't have an answer for her.

* * *

><p>An hour later found the girls in bed with the TV angled towards them. Rachel's cell phone light blinked from the nightstand next to her with an unread text from her fathers and probably Finn and Puck. Maybe even Santana. The brunette had sent a text to her dads telling them she was staying at Quinn's for the night, and to please give her this one last night with Quinn and not come get her.<p>

Rachel still wasn't sure if she had lied to them or not. She was sure of the sinking feeling she had in the pit of her stomach that spread to ever nerve in her body, though. It felt like the end. The end of Quinn's arms around Rachel's waist like they were, the end of Rachel lying her head against Quinn's chest and not hearing or feeling a heartbeat, and the end of Quinn speaking into Rachel's mind without having to part her lips.

"I'm so scared," Rachel whispered over the quiet laughing track coming out of the television.

She felt Quinn shift positions so she was lying next to the ghost instead of on her. "Of the Ombra?"

"Them, of course, but also of the feeling in my stomach," Rachel added.

Quinn laughed lightly, "I just assumed I was the only one with that gut-wrenching feeling right now. Guess you have it too, figures."

"Do you really think this is the end?" the brunette whispered as she used two fingers to move Quinn's bangs from her eyes.

Quinn hesitated for a brief moment before nodding, "I do. Something's going to happen very soon, and it's going to end it all."

Rachel's eyes welled up with tears. This wasn't news to her, really. She had known that this moment would come. She didn't know how, but she knew that it would. No, her tears came from defeat and acceptance. This was it. She was going to lose Quinn.

"Rachel," she heard, interrupting her thoughts. She focused back on Quinn, her vision clearing up as she moved it from staring through the wall. It sometimes astounded Rachel how, through this whole living Hell, Quinn still looked radiant. Maybe it was the fact that since she was a ghost she never really took on physical impairments. Regardless, Rachel had never seen someone so beautiful. Especially since Quinn was far more discernable than Rachel had ever seen her before, even on the day that Rachel actually saw Quinn for the first time.

Rachel took in the bumps along Quinn's jaw that every teenager seemed to have, up to the small scar on the bridge of her nose and wondered if she'd maybe broken it in her lifetime, to the small circle scar that rested above Quinn's eye. It pained Rachel to notice, really notice, all of the physical characteristics on Quinn now. As if the one thing Quinn had longed for the most, to be alive, was finally being given to her just as she was about to be ripped away.

"Rachel," she heard again.

"What?"

"Don't stare at me like that," Quinn whispered sternly, causing Rachel to furrow her brow.

"And why not?"

"Because you keep looking at me like you're going to miss me," Quinn answered.

Rachel took in a breath and released it as she brought her hand up to graze Quinn's cheek with her knuckles. Her eyes wandered Quinn's face again, traversing well-known paths that she never wanted to leave.

"You know the feeling that you have now, Quinn? The feeling you have about leaving me? About us being separated?" Rachel asked.

Quinn slowly nodded her head and worried her bottom lip between her teeth.

"_That's_ the feeling I have about you leaving. The only difference is that I'm not going to let you go, Quinn. Not until the very end when you are actually torn from my life."

"What if I asked you to?" Quinn whispered in the dark.

Rachel shook her head, her hand still lingering on Quinn's cheek, "I wouldn't want to. I never want to. I know that you warned me in the beginning to leave you alone, that this would end badly. But I couldn't because I felt something for you that I could never put into words until now."

"Rachel-"

"Don't, Quinn. Let me finish," Rachel said, "I believe that I was meant to find you that day in the bathroom. I believe that you were stuck here because you needed to wait for me. We were fated to meet each other, Quinn, and it had to be _me_ that found you. It had to be_ me_ that heard you when no one else did. Rachel Berry, the girl who can't hear anyone over herself, had to be the one to hear you. And I did. You have helped me see that-that life isn't just about getting out of a destitute town and becoming a star. Granted, those are main points, but they're not all that there is.

"You've shown me that life is about making the most out of every second that you're given. That you need to love people and let yourself be loved. That you need to listen to people and let them help you and guide you," Rachel trailed off when she noticed that Quinn was crying. "You've shown me that I was alive, but I hadn't been living my life. You saved me Quinn. And I love you," Rachel finished.

"You saved me right back," Quinn choked out through her tears.

Rachel's lips formed a thin line as she nodded. "I know." The brunette leaned over and took Quinn's bottom lip between her own as she kissed the girl as hard as she possibly could.

Quinn allowed Rachel to gently push her down and roll onto the blond, reveling in the firmness of Quinn's actual body underneath her. As Rachel felt Quinn's hands trail up the back of her shirt, Rachel knew she was about to give Quinn everything. And if this was all she could give Quinn in return for everything the ghost had done for her? Then so be it. Rachel needed to show Quinn in every humanly way possible that she loved her. She loved her. She did. And Quinn finally understood that.

As minutes went by, the soft light from the TV emphasized the sheen of sweat that glistened across Rachel's naked chest as she arched her back against the bed. As Rachel's hands twisted in the rumpled bed sheets, she scrunched her eyes closed and tried to control her breathing.

As if she knew, Quinn was suddenly back on Rachel, kissing up her body and then the brunette's throat and lips. Quinn whispered "I love you" repeatedly as Rachel left scratch marks down Quinn's back. Well, she would have at least, if Quinn could have been marked up. She had a feeling Quinn used her powers to make the marks show, anyway.

"I love you too, Quinn," Rachel said softly and as steadily as she could make her voice with Quinn inside of her. God, she loved her ghost. Nothing outside of that room mattered to Rachel in that moment; on one of the most special nights of Rachel's life, it was just Rachel and Quinn, nothing else, and she would forever love Quinn for that.


	10. Ten

Deus Ex Machina [god in the machine]

**Author's Note: **I want to personally thank each and every one of you for reading my story :) I hope you enjoyed the journey of reading it as much as I enjoyed the journey of writing it.

* * *

><p>Rachel woke up. Admittedly, that was one of the many things that happened to her that day that she did not expect to happen. The first thing she noticed was that the room was dark, but not the kind of dark that came from the nighttime leaking in; the kind of dark that came from the sunlight staying out of the room. She groaned as she reached across the near-empty bed and fumbled for her cell phone. Thirty-six messages were gone with the push of a button - she just wanted to see the time. She could deal with the messages later. Of course she could.<p>

Rachel rubbed her eyes and twisted her legs tighter into the scratchy fabric of the old, red wool blanket that Quinn had thrown over them sometime during the night. She paused as she felt the coarse blanket graze her bare chest, and the night flooded back to her. With a small, lingering smile, Rachel got up from the bed with the blanket wrapped around her.

Another pause. Rachel lifted up her hand and gently brushed her finger across her cheek, under her eye. She felt something small and rough underneath the pad of her index finger. Thinking that maybe she had cut herself in the insanity the day before, Rachel moved to the desk and picked up a small makeup compact from Quinn's previous life to look at the scab. She flipped the red compact open and brought the small mirror up to her face. On her cheek, under her eye, was a tiny gold star sticker that Quinn had placed on her sometime before Rachel had woken up.

_Quinn_. Rachel gently traced the sticker with her finger with the faintest smile on her face. She hadn't even thought that she'd ever told Quinn about how gold stars were a metaphor for herself. "I do believe I have been changed for the better," Rachel said to herself, despite herself. Lifting her gaze, Rachel searched the wall of Quinn's pictures until her eyes landed on her ghost's senior picture. The very first time Rachel had ever laid her eyes upon Quinn's face. _For good._

Her bare feet padded across the floor as she made her way to the closed door across the room. God, she was tired. Rachel felt so incredibly exhausted and she assumed that her complexion would mirror that.

With her ear pressed to the door, Rachel listened for any sound of anything. Her heart told her that the reason Quinn wasn't in the room with her was not a bad one. Tentatively, the brunette opened the door and poked her head into the hallway. Everything seemed normal. No Ombra. Marvelous. With the blanket wrapped tightly around hers, Rachel quietly made her way to the downstairs of the Fabray house.

It was early in the morning and the sun had been just rising and casting blotchy shadows on the walls from the cloud coverage. This was it, Rachel thought as she made her way through the silent house, today was the day. The house that she'd come to stay in as much as her own over those past few months now seemed empty, desolate. She hardly recognized it. Truth be told, Rachel hardly recognized anything that day. It all seemed so off; everything seemed so off.

She stepped into the living room and was immediately met with Quinn's piercing gaze. Her ghost was leaning against a wall right next to a window, the blinds twisted open to allow some sunlight in. Half of her was incased in shadow, and Rachel silently marveled at how that was the first time that Quinn didn't look like she was glowing. She seemed completely corporeal. Quinn had a coffee cup in her hands and a yellow cardigan on over a pair of black jeans.

"Hey, spirit," Rachel softly whispered as she pulled the blanket tighter around her chest and stood across the room from Quinn. The light from the sun seemed to illuminate half of her as well; the opposite of what was lit on Quinn.

She watched Quinn cock her head and continue staring at her with that intense gaze. Part of Rachel feared that she had done something wrong the night before, until Quinn gave her a small smile.

"Hello, Berry," Quinn whispered back, "Want some coffee?"

Rachel eyed the phantom cup in the blond's hand and shook her head. "No thanks, yours goes right through me."

"Funny," Quinn said, that faint smile tinting her lips as she finally pushed off the wall and made her way to Rachel.

"I am very funny, as a matter of fact," the brunette responded as her eyes slowly traced over Quinn's body…over how Quinn moved towards her. Once Quinn was within reach of Rachel, the brunette opened her blanket and engulfed her ghost into the warmth, wrapping her arms around Quinn's waist to keep the blanket in place.

The coffee cup disappeared from Quinn's hand as soon as Rachel opened the blanket, revealing herself to Quinn. The blond smiled softly as she wrapped her arms around Rachel's neck and toyed with her hair. "How are you feeling?"

Rachel nuzzled her face into Quinn's neck and closed her eyes, trying to imagine what she smelled like. Probably a hint of cherry blossom or something equally as soft. "If you're asking to test the waters to see if I regret last night, I do not. If you are just asking for the sake of asking, I'm wonderful for now. Terrified, but wonderful."

Rachel didn't open her eyes and didn't feel Quinn tense up under her touch, so she assumed that was the answer the blond wanted to hear. "Can you feel me now?" Rachel asked as she felt Quinn's fingers brush through her hair.

"Think of it like…when you have a forgotten thought on the tip of your tongue, and you can feel it and you know it but it's just not quite within your grasp. That's how I feel you."

"That's rather ironic."

"Today is the day," Quinn said as if those words hadn't been a loaded gun pressed to Rachel's temple.

Rachel pulled back from Quinn just enough to see her face. "I felt it when I woke up. There's a change in the air," Rachel admitted reluctantly, "You've already left me, haven't you?"

* * *

><p>Quinn stilled her fingers in Rachel's hair and valiantly attempted to keep the pain from her eyes, from Rachel, as she swallowed the nonexistent lump in her throat. "You need to upstairs and get dressed, Rachel. Your fathers are here."<p>

The look of shock and betrayal that crossed Rachel's features destroyed Quinn, but not as much as when the brunette dropped her arms from around Quinn's waist and gripped that old blanket tighter. That blanket Quinn's grandma had made for her many, many years back must have been rough against Rachel's bare frame.

"You called my fathers?" Rachel whispered.

There was a knock on the front door but neither girl jumped from surprise.

"I wanted them here," Quinn started, her gaze shooting to the side as she bit her lip to prevent herself from crying, "I know I've been around for a while but I…sometimes feel like I'm still sixteen, Rachel. You're all the closest thing that I have to family now since mine left and I didn't know what to do," Quinn finished in a whisper.

In front of her, Rachel looked as if she was tearing up against her will. "My fathers agreed to help you exorcise yourself?"

With a sigh, Quinn threw a quick glance towards the direction of the front door. "Don't act like this is betrayal, Rachel. You've known that I was going to do this, you know my reasons -"

"And I've accepted it…for the most part," Rachel said over Quinn, "even though it's _killing_ me inside. But don't except me to not be angry with you choosing _my_ fathers to do this. Now I have to live with the fact that my fathers are the ones who basically killed the woman that I love!" Rachel finished louder than she intended judging by the look on her face after the words left her mouth.

Quinn stared at her in shock. The woman that she loved. "You really do love me."

"Of course I do," Rachel said emphatically, "I was meant to love you. I fully believe that decision was made for me ten years ago. But I hope you understand that I can't watch you be taken away from me, not again," she finished with tears in her eyes.

Quinn fought the urge to get angry. Above all things, she needed to make sure Rachel would be okay after she was gone. In all accounts: with the Ombra, with her heart, and with her life. If Rachel needed to go upstairs and not witness Quinn leaving, then Quinn would have to accept the fact that Rachel's face would not be the last thing she was ever going to get to see in her life. After-life. After-life, Quinn. Had Rachel's cheeks always been so sunken in?

Their locked gaze was interrupted by a louder knock on the door. Quinn shakily nodded her head and whispered, "Okay." Rachel had tears streaming down her cheeks as her face crumpled and she launched herself forward and captured Quinn's lips with her own in the deepest kiss the two had ever shared.

"_I love you_," Rachel said unequivocally before turning and rushing back upstairs.

"I'll never really leave you," Quinn whispered to the empty room with her hand still hanging in the air where Rachel's cheek had once been. Shaking her head, Quinn set her features and made her way to open the front door.

* * *

><p>"They won't do it," Quinn said flatly.<p>

Hiram and Leroy exchanged a morose look before Hiram shook his head. "It's traditionally done by the Catholic church, as I'm sure you know, Quinn," Hiram began, "And they don't exactly approve of me and Leroy."

"They wouldn't take us seriously," Leroy finished in his deeper voice, "We couldn't get anyone to help us."

Quinn sat at her kitchen table in shock before dropping her head and running a shaky hand through her hair. Leroy and Hiram sat across the table from her with a glass of water in between them.

After a few moments of Quinn staring blankly at the table in front of her she raised her gaze and quietly asked, "Can you take Rachel home with you?"

Hearing that the church wouldn't help Quinn had been a shock. She thought times had changed, and she thought that when people needed help that the church would be the first spot anyone could go. She had been wrong. Well, that was fine. Quinn had an alternative plan. If the church wouldn't help her pass on, she knew someone who had been more than eager to get her to leave this world.

"She's upstairs," Quinn prompted again when neither men made a move to get up.

Hiram eyed the table in front of him and straightened his glasses before he turned and nodded to his husband. Leroy got up and as he walked by Quinn, he laid a gentle hand on her shoulder and squeezed before Quinn heard his footsteps start upstairs. She smiled faintly as she remembered how terrified the man had been of her the first time Rachel had introduced them.

However, her attention was drawn back to Hiram, the man who had come to be her father more than her actual father had ever been. "Quinn, make sure that whatever you have planned is the best possible solution, because this is it." Quinn opened her mouth to interrupt but Hiram held up a gentle hand and shook his head to silence her. "Make sure this is the best possible solution, Quinn, because there will be no going back. Rachel will be here and you'll be gone."

Quinn dropped her eyes to the table and blinked back tears. Damn. Just hearing Rachel's name at that point was like swallowing acid, it burned so badly.

"I lucked out with Leroy," Hiram said as he walked until he was standing next to Quinn and facing the hallway. He set his arm on Quinn's shoulder just as Leroy had done a few seconds prior, whispering, "and I think anybody who finds love in this world is lucky, Quinn, because I don't think it happens often anymore. No matter whom it's with, I consider it lucky. I'm not trying to sway your decision, I'm just trying to look out for your heart; and Rachel's too, for that matter. You're like a daughter to me and…" Quinn let out a shaking breath as tears streamed down her face when she heard Hiram's voice crack on his own tears, "and I wish this whole damn situation could rot. But I trust you. Just know, wherever you go, that you have a home here, with the Berrys."

Quinn sucked in a breath and abruptly turned, flinging her arms around Hiram and hugging him as tightly as she could. Before she pulled away Quinn whispered into Hiram's ear, knocking his glasses askew, "Delay her."

The older man looked slightly confused but nodded nonetheless before making his way upstairs and not looking back.

Quinn sucked in a deep breath and reigned in her emotions. Rachel wouldn't make it out of that house in time to stop her, she was sure of that.

* * *

><p>Quinn heard her. Or felt her. She couldn't tell which it was at that point and she didn't think she wanted to know, but as Quinn walked past her front door, she heard Rachel call out to her. It had happened before. If Rachel screamed loud enough, even if it was only in her mind, Quinn heard her. And <em>God<em> did it hurt to hear Rachel scream like that when she realized what Quinn was doing. As soon as Leroy told Rachel that no one would help their family help Quinn, and then Hiram walked in and stalled her, Rachel got it.

But Rachel was not the only presence that Quinn could feel. She could sense many things at that moment as she hit the pavement in front of her house at a run. She could sense her family in California. She could sense her mother, now fifty something, sitting at the family dining room table with a glass of scotch in her hand. She could sense her father standing in his fancy office on the tenth floor, staring down at the street hundreds of feet below with tears in his eyes. She could sense Puck sitting in his room with his brother's picture in his hands, ripping it in half. She could sense Rachel fighting against Leroy's grip as tears stream down her face. She felt Rachel the most. It almost consumed her as she ran towards the park near her house.

Rachel's park. Her park. Her grave. The park across the street from the corner that she had died on. Of course, that had to be Rachel's park. It couldn't have been any other way. Of course, there was one other presence that she felt lingering on the outskirts of her mind: the Ombra. And that's what she was running towards.

As her flats hit the sidewalk Quinn couldn't tell if she was so corporeal that she could actually hear them or if it was just in her imagination like always. She idly wondered if because the people close to her could now see her, if everyone could. God, was she even a ghost anymore?

When the cement gave way to wood chips signaling the entrance to the park, Quinn stopped just before. She sucked in deep breaths as her eyes scanned the park and she saw a couple sitting on the swings, obviously ditching school, talking amongst themselves. Quinn bit her lip and quickly weighed her options. She needed to make sure that she was still a ghost because if anyone saw what was about to happen - well, she didn't want to think about that.

Quinn blinked and shrugged her shoulders under her favorite jean jacket that she had just put on. It was cold and she didn't want to look out of place walking around in the harsh Lima winter with only a flimsy cardigan on, that was, _if_ anyone else could really see her.

An image suddenly played in the back of her mind like a scratched vinyl; playing and glitching and then replaying over and over. An image of Rachel underneath Quinn on her bed, pulling at Quinn's shirt and Quinn using her mind to make the shirt vanish, giving Rachel the illusion of taking off the ghost's shirt. It had made Rachel smile, and it was making Quinn smile as she tried to clear her mind of all that was Rachel before she made her way over to the unsuspecting couple.

No. She couldn't focus on Rachel or memories of the night before if she was actually going to do what she needed to do. What she_ needed_ to do was see if just anyone could see her. What she _needed_ to do was to save Rachel.

"Hey!" Quinn yelled as she neared the random couple on the swings. "Hello? Hey! Your boyfriend is an ugly idiot," Quinn called out in her best bitch voice.

The couple on the swings gave no indication that they could either see or hear Quinn. But the blond wanted to be sure and so she took it a step further by jumping up and down right in front of the couple.

"Either you're sickeningly in love and oblivious to the world or you can't see me," Quinn grumbled as she rolled her eyes. Stupid kids in love. "Screw you," Quinn spat out bitterly before she regained control of her emotions and took a deep breath.

Okay. So she couldn't be seen by most people still. That was good. Now for the grand finale. "As Rachel always says," Quinn said in a detached voice, "the show must go on."

* * *

><p>"Let go of me right this instant or so help me-"<p>

"Rachel," Leroy spat out as he desperately clung to his daughter's waist at the threshold of Quinn's bedroom door, "Knock it off right this second. You _aren't_ going after her; we're going home."

Hiram sat in the wooden chair in front of the tiny desk with his head dropped between his knees. The struggle between Leroy and Rachel had been going on for ten minutes and Rachel had managed to drag the larger man across half of the bedroom before she completely lost it. Hiram had never before heard his daughter cry out with such anguish as when she realized what Quinn was doing.

"Don't you get it?" Rachel cried out, "She's going to do it herself! She's going to give herself up to the Ombra because the damned church wouldn't help us!"

"Watch it, Rachel," Leroy warned.

"No!" Rachel snapped with tears streaming down her cheeks, "I'm not going to watch it, Daddy. What if it was Dad out there?"

"Rachel-" Leroy warned.

"What if it was me?" Hiram interrupted his husband. Leroy turned his gaze to Hiram and furrowed his eyebrows. Hiram continued, "What if it was me out there going to sacrifice myself for you?"

"Hiram the girl's a ghost," Leroy urged, "she _needs_ to move on."

"She's not just a ghost, Daddy," Rachel said, her voice cracking on her tears, "I love her, and she's _never_ just been a ghost. She's a human being." There was a beat of silence and a deep, shuddering intake of breath from the brunette. "I love her," Rachel repeated with a whisper.

"She's a spirit, Rachel, the soul of what was once a human being. You can't fall in love with that," Leroy yelled.

"Are you saying you don't love my soul?" Hiram asked, finally raising his head, "That when you fall in love with someone you don't fall in love with their soul? The complete embodiment of them?"

"She's seventeen, Hiram, she doesn't know what love is," Leroy finished, shrugging his shoulders, "it's best that she just lets Quinn go."

Rachel gaped at her father as the other man slowly stood up from the chair. "Leroy, it takes a hell of a lot more for someone to fall in love with _only_ someone's personality, _only_ their voice, their quirks, and their heart. Do you know what it takes nowadays for someone to fall in love with someone and not have it involve physical contact or sex? Especially teenagers, Leroy," Hiram finished.

Hiram took off his glasses and cleaned them off on his sweater before slowly replacing them. He looked straight into the eyes of his seventeen-year-old daughter and his heart simultaneously broke and swelled at the destruction and determination he saw there. "What are you still doing here, Rachel? Go."

Leroy's grip had dropped and Rachel didn't hesitate for one second before she tore off and out of the Fabray house after Quinn. She let her feet guide her and before she knew it, Rachel was tearing through Lima to get to her park, stumbling over herself from the weakness that had seeped into her bones.

Leroy gaped down at his husband and slowly shook his head. Hiram stood his ground and crossed his arms over his chest. "If this leads to a fight, or worse, so be it. I am prepared to keep you in this room at whatever the cost. Whatever happens out there, we need to support Rachel, we cannot do to her what society has done to us our entire lives. Rachel loves that girl, Leroy, and I can tell you first hand that Quinn is not just a ghost."

Leroy glanced out Quinn's bedroom window at the ever-darkening sky and let out a heavy sigh. It was going to storm.

* * *

><p>"I know it's been a while," Quinn said with a clear voice as she watched the clouds roll in, "but I need you now, okay? I'm coming up there. At least, I hope I am…. Regardless, I kind of need to get the hell out of here because I'm killing Rachel."<p>

Quinn got no response from her spot in the middle of the park. She didn't expect one. As the clouds rolled in thicker she felt a twinge in her chest. Another. Quinn shook her head and glanced back up at the sky, "Is that your way of telling me that you hear me, God? Let's make a little deal. You've made me suffer after death for ten years and -" Another pang cut the ghost's rant off. If Quinn didn't know any better, she would say it was a -

"Rachel," Quinn breathed out as she felt the girl's presence. Quinn whirled around and saw Rachel standing on the curb across the street. Rachel was standing on the corner that the crash had happened on ten years ago.

"Rachel, no," Quinn gasped as another presence appeared behind the brunette. An Ombra. "Rachel!" Quinn raised her voice to a scream and began running towards the confused girl.

However, Quinn was suddenly waylaid by Puck, Finn, and that Santana girl from the Cheerios.

"Quinn I need to tell you something," Puck breathed out heavily.

"Where's Rachel?" Finn asked through a pant. The group had clearly run to the park to find Quinn but -

"How did you know I was here?" Quinn asked as her eyes desperately shot back to Rachel.

"Rachel brought me here the other day and when she wasn't at school again we figured here or your place were the best bet," Santana said with wide-eyes, "God, you are real."

"Quinn, I really need to tell you something-" Puck attempted again, but Finn silenced him.

"W-What's that thing behind Rachel?"

Quinn's eyes shot back to Rachel before she let out an anguished cry. Rachel had turned around and was backed into the street in an attempt to get away from the Ombra.

Quinn broke out into a sprint as she attempted to close the gap between herself and Rachel.

"You can't have her!" Quinn heard Rachel shout above the wind.

"You think we're here for Quinn?" the Ombra shot back. Quinn felt her body shudder at the voice. It was so detached and gravely and Quinn began to doubt if the Ombra had ever been human.

Wait. If they didn't want her, then they wanted…. "Rachel, no, get away!" Quinn screamed again as she saw confusion flash across the brunette's eyes.

"Haven't you been hunting Quinn?"

"Yes, but we know the curse that's upon her soul. She drains the life of the person she loves. The closer she became to you, the more of your life she took. It seems that Quinn is just about out of our grasp now. So, we get to take you instead, Rachel," it said.

Quinn vaguely registered Finn and Santana cry out behind her from her position in the middle of the street. She didn't even know when she'd stopped running.

Quinn watched Rachel turn around and realize that Quinn was right behind her. "What were you thinking?" Rachel asked her, her brown eyes faded and painted with pain, "You can't save me, Quinn. _I_ was meant to save _you_."

Quinn shook her head and took a step towards Rachel. "You're not going to die because of _me_. You're not going to die so I can live, Rachel."

"I think it's too late for that, Quinn," Rachel whispered back as tears trailed down her cheeks.

Quinn's furious eyes raised and bore into the approaching Ombra as she screamed and lurched forward.

A strong pair of arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her back. Shocked, Quinn began swinging her arms wildly in an attempt to beat off whoever was holding her back from Rachel.

"Quinn, you need to let this happen," Puck whispered into her ear, far too calmly for Quinn's liking.

Quinn's eyes were crazed as she whipped her head to the side and met Puck's eyes. The ghost didn't even think she was capable of forming words. In a final attempt to break free Quinn closed her eyes and tried to blink herself out of Puck's grasp, but it failed. Her ghost powers were gone.

Frantically, Quinn turned her gaze back to the scene in front of the group as Rachel stood a few feet from her, smiling softly. Her Rachel. No. Not her Rachel. _No_. "Breathe, Quinn," Rachel whispered before her small hand flew up to clutch at her chest.

Quinn's jaw hung open in a silent gasp and tears fell from her eyes as Rachel dropped to her knees in front of her. Quinn watched Rachel's body shake and her mouth work noiselessly as she tried to suck in air.

"Rachel…please no," Quinn breathed, the words barely making it past her lips and her voice cracking.

Rachel's chest shook with one last breath before she slumped forward onto the cold street, motionless.

Quinn's hazel eyes were wide, hysterical, as Puck released her from his grasp and she felt that pang in her chest again. Again. Again.

Quinn was acutely aware that Finn and Santana were frantically dialing someone on their cell phones and that Puck was staring intently at her. The air was cold against her skin and Quinn could see her own breath. The clouds were dark above her head and they reminded Quinn of smoke; as if Hell had just opened up and released its last, dying breath.

The Ombra was gone and the panging in her chest was her heartbeat.

And Rachel was dead.

…and Rachel was dead.

* * *

><p>The ambulance arrived four minutes after both Finn and Santana placed the calls on their cell phones. Everything seemed to be in slow motion for Quinn, but that was to be expected, she thought.<p>

Quinn's eyes roamed the scene in front of her slowly as she wrapped her arms around herself. Rachel's body was carried into the ambulance in a stretcher as the EMTs worked frantically on her. Finn had an arm around Santana as they both tried to hide the tears in their eyes. Puck was standing silently next to Quinn with a heavy hand on her shoulder.

An EMT asked Quinn what had happened to Rachel, and Puck interrupted her before she could blame herself. He said he thought it had been a heart attack that had struck randomly when they were ditching school, but nothing in particular happened to her. Quinn started crying again. Or maybe she never stopped.

Santana rode in the ambulance with Rachel, and Quinn figured it was more out of courtesy for her friends than for Rachel, because there was no Rachel anymore. Finn ran to the Fabray house to try to catch Rachel's dads.

A few minutes after the crowd had cleared, Puck gently moved Quinn to follow him and they took a seat on the swings.

Puck ran a hand over his mohawk and pulled his leather jacket closer to himself against the bitter wind.

"Why did you do it?" Quinn asked countless minutes later, her eyes trained on the street across from them but not seeing. Every thump of her heartbeat in her chest pushed Quinn closer to hurling.

"That's what I needed to find you for," Puck said gruffly, swiping the back of his hand across his eyes and sucking in a deep breath, "I called Michael earlier."

Quinn was silent and unmoving as she let him continue. "I told him about you. That you were back and shit, you know? He kind of laughed at that and said you never left. I didn't know what he meant by that so I told him he had better start explaining before I cracked his nuts.

"So, he goes on to tell me that he fucked around with some satanic shit in high school while you two were dating-"

"I knew that," Quinn said with a shake of her head, "I thought I could convert him into being a good Christian boy but I never thought he was really into that kind of stuff. Not seriously."

"Neither did anyone else, but he was apparently. I mean he didn't like sacrifice animals or anything but he thought it made him cool and he thought it won him football games and so he kept 'making deals with the devil', you know?"

"Get to the point, Puck," Quinn urged. All malice had left her voice. All feeling had left her. Ironic, she thought, that her soul seemed to have left her now that she was alive again. Alive again, ha. There was nothing alive about her except for her heart beating, and how it was doing that she had no idea.

"You pissed him off bad one day when you called him a Lima loser and told him he'd never make it out of this town. He did some of his stupid black magic shit and put some curse on you. He was sixteen and a fucking moron and probably sounded like an idiot chanting in his bedroom like that but shit, Quinn. I don't think he had powers or anything but something must have gotten through to someone because…"

"Because I was cursed, doomed, whatever," Quinn finished. The two sat in silence for a few minutes before Quinn spoke again, more to herself than to Puck, "I wonder if I was ever really dead."

A few moments later Puck returned with, "I didn't know shit like this actually happened," his voice quiet with shock.

The sky opened up above them and, for the first time in a long time, Quinn felt the rain come down on her.

"Rachel's dead," Puck whispered against the thunder in the sky.

Quinn stared blankly ahead as the boy next to her shook slightly before openly sobbing. "What in the hell was that thing, Quinn?" Puck asked her through his tears, and for a brief moment, Quinn was reminded of the 6-year-old boy that used to try to hide his tears from her when he fell off his skateboard.

"An Ombra," Quinn said blankly, "At least that's what I've always called them."

"Do you think it was a part of whatever the fuck Michael cursed you with?"

"Nothing like that could have ever been in a sixteen year old's mind," Quinn said with a shake of her head as her wet bangs fell into her face, "They're fallen angels, I think."

"I thought angels were supposed to be the good guys," Puck said bitterly with tears still falling and blood shot eyes that he turned on Quinn.

Quinn looked back at him and held his gaze. "Why do you think they're called 'fallen'?"

"So what, the curse is broken now because you sucked enough life from Rachel for her to die and you to live? How does that happen?" Puck asked.

Quinn was quiet for a long moment as the rain soaked both of them through their jackets and to the bone. Neither seemed inclined to care and Quinn knew they were probably both thinking the same thing; Rachel's body was colder than both of theirs right then.

Quinn took a deep breath, and was still trying to get used to _that_ again, before she plainly said, "An hour ago I believed in a God that could do anything. A God that could let me be cursed, that let me stay here instead of moving on, that gave me Rachel, and that took her away. An hour ago this solution, this broken curse, would have been a miracle to me."

"You don't believe anymore?" Puck gently prodded with dried tears on his face, "You're _alive_ again, Quinn. You went from being a ghost to being alive and now you're choosing to not believe? If anything this whole fucking disaster has solidified my beliefs."

Quinn's gaze flickered to her hands in her lap as she tangled her fingers together. "I've been ignored by the world for ten years, Puck. I've been forced to watch the people I love give up on me and leave me when I was standing right in front of them. I was forced to deal with an annoying, loser brunette who was potentially more invisible than I was be the only person who could hear me. I fell in love with her. The one good thing that had happened to me my entire life, basically. But the funny part? The funny part is that my ex-boyfriend screwed me over more than just killing me by being an idiot. Yeah, I was one of those ghosts that they make horror movies about because I killed the woman I love. Not only that, but I had to watch her die right in front of me, for _me_. So, no, I do not believe anymore. I don't know _what_ to believe in anymore."

"I held you back because-"

"Rachel was already gone, I know."

Puck took a deep breath and opened his mouth to say something, _anything_ to this woman next to him, when his cell phone went off.

* * *

><p>Rachel had been dead for seven minutes and thirty-four seconds before they revived her with the defibrillator in the ambulance. She awoke with a gasp and a voice whispering in her ear, telling her to breathe, before she heard sobs of relief coming from none other than Santana Lopez.<p>

They moved Rachel from the ambulance and into a room in the ICU in the Lima general hospital. It was ruled that Rachel suffered sudden cardiac arrest from a heart attack and was then revived. The doctor's were calling it a miracle. Rachel kept her mouth shut.

While Rachel didn't feel like she was dying, she felt that she probably looked it with the dozens of tubes and IV drips going into her and her heart monitor steadily beeping.

The nurses and the beeping faded to the back of her mind though as Rachel stared through the glass wall of her ICU room to her fathers, standing in the hall, crying. She had died. In front of everyone, and in front of a very alive Quinn Fabray, Rachel had died. She hadn't seen a white light, nor had she been greeted with open arms by a pair of angels. One moment she was face planting into the street and the next, she was blinking against the harsh ambulance light. Did that mean Quinn was alive? Had they somehow cheated the so-called-curse?

Oh God. Rachel was suddenly gripped with a terrifying thought: Had Quinn turned back into a ghost now that Rachel had cheated death?

Her heart rate raised a bit, but not enough to worry the nurses, and after a few more minutes, Rachel's fathers were allowed to enter the room. It wasn't protocol, but nothing about Rachel's situation was normal, so the doctor allowed it.

Hiram had tears in his eyes and Leroy was shaking so badly that he nearly slipped out of the chair next to Rachel's bed.

"I'm okay," she insisted, her voice raspy.

"They said it was a…an uhm…" Leroy tried, but failed, to continue.

"A heart attack," Hiram said, stepping in.

"It wasn't," Rachel said, "At least I don't think so. I lost my life and Quinn gained hers and there was-"

"Rachel," Hiram gently stopped her, casting a glance across Rachel to Leroy, "We don't need to know what happened. Not yet. I just have one question right now."

Rachel raised her eyes and saw Finn standing in the spot where her fathers had been a few moments before. When he caught her eye, he lifted a shaky hand and smiled at her. Rachel smiled back. Finn had been crying, hard. Santana walked up next to him and smiled at Rachel, a genuine one that Rachel had never seen Santana send her way. She had been crying, too.

"Where's Quinn?" Hiram asked quietly.

"She was alive, Dad, she was alive," the brunette said excitedly before exhaustion overpowered her again and she was forced to take deep breaths.

Leroy met Hiram's eyes and asked, shocked, "How did that happen? Rachel dies and Quinn lives again?"

"I think there was more to them meeting than any of us will ever know," Hiram mumbled, "but I think Rachel was meant to save Quinn."

"Things like this don't happen," Leroy said fervently under his breath, "It's not possible."

"How do we know what is or isn't possible in this world, honey? We're trapped behind the walls of a dead-end town in a world where people nowadays think the only magic that exists is the magic that gets a text from one phone to another," Hiram said, shaking his head, "I think anything is possible when you open your eyes to it."

Rachel silently listened to her fathers and her own heart beat before casting a brief glance upwards. Thank you, she thought, to whoever's driving up there. When she lowered her gaze and focused on the glass wall across from her bed, she saw Puck walk up to the group. He was sopping wet and Santana launched herself into his arms. He hugged her back and pressed a kiss to her forehead and Rachel watched Finn nod in her direction. Puck turned his head and met Rachel's eyes. He smiled. Rachel smiled back. And that was when Quinn walked up behind him. Rachel knew at that moment, no matter what explanation they as a group could come up with for this entire thing, that Quinn Fabray had been an angel that somehow got lost on her way to Heaven.

Quinn Fabray, with her jean jacket and hair completely soaked and sticking to her face. A nurse walked by and accidentally bumped into Quinn, turned, and apologized to her. Quinn looked awestruck. Rachel began to cry.

When Rachel's heart monitor began to beep a little more frequently than it had been, both Leroy and Hiram turned to look at the blond teenager that was standing in front of Rachel's three other friends. All three of them watched as Quinn's eyes met Rachel's with the intention of never letting them go again. Quinn pressed her hand to the glass wall and let a few tears slide down her cheeks and Rachel knew that if she could touch Quinn's face, she would feel the tears on her fingertips.

* * *

><p>Two days later Rachel was moved into a general room for recovery and monitoring. A room that allowed non-family members to actually enter the room without risk of contamination. That was when Rachel met Quinn Fabray.<p>

The second that visitor time was allowed that morning, Rachel's fathers woke up an exhausted Quinn that was burrowed under Leroy's jacket and lying across two waiting room chairs. She wiped the sleep from her eyes, not quite used to having to sleep, as the men ushered her into Rachel's room.

Quinn and Puck had tried their best to explain to Finn, Santana, Hiram, and Leroy what conclusion they came to. It seemed plausible, or at least, as plausible as any explanation could have been in that situation. In the end, the group decided that questioning it further seemed unnecessary since two lives were saved.

Hiram placed a kiss on Quinn's cheek before she stepped into Rachel's room and drew the curtain closed behind her.

Rachel hadn't woken up yet so Quinn pulled one of the chairs in the room up to the bed and softly grasped Rachel's hand. For a brief moment before Quinn made contact with Rachel's hand, she had a terrible flash of her hand passing right through Rachel's like it had so many times those past months. But it didn't.

Quinn gently stroked her thumb across the back of Rachel's hand and let out a shaky breath. There had been no sign of the Ombra, no flashes back to transparency, and no ghost powers to speak of. Quinn was alive, had been given her body back, and had been given Rachel back. It all seemed so easy; too easy. Yet, it hadn't been easy, not really. Not with everything Quinn had gone through by herself, and then with everything she'd gone through with Rachel. None of it had been easy, not even the falling in love part.

But as Rachel laid there peacefully on the hospital bed in front of Quinn, the color coming back to her cheeks, Quinn knew everything would be okay from then on. She had spent the past two days praying to a God that she didn't even know if she believed in, but it was all she'd ever known, and it was all she could do until she could see Rachel.

She knew not everyone had faith, and that science played a huge part in Rachel being okay, but Quinn still lifted her eyes from Rachel's face to the ceiling. "Thank you," she whispered, "I don't know if Rachel and I were stuck in some crossfire between You and Satan or what, but I feel like the good guys won. We won. We did it, and I know You helped, somehow. I'm sorry for everything I said to you," Quinn finished.

She felt a hand squeeze hers and she lowered her eyes down to see Rachel staring at her and smiling softly. "I did the same thing," Rachel said quietly. When Quinn didn't respond, Rachel gently shifted in the bed so she was facing the girl more. "We made it, Quinn."

Quinn smiled and nodded her head. "I just…don't know how to handle all of this."

Rachel took a deep breath and Quinn thought that she'd never been so grateful to see the girl's chest rise and fall in the motion of breathing. "What are you going to do with your newfound life?"

Quinn was focused on the feeling of Rachel's skin under her hand before she gave a distracted reply. "Did you know that when you Google Lima, Ohio the first thing that comes up are the obituaries?"

Rachel stared at Quinn before blinking and shaking her head in amusement, softly muttering, "Yes, I'm actually very aware of that."

Quinn threw her an uncertain look before continuing. "While you've been out cold in recovery I've been doing some research. My name is still on that list. My grave is still there. I'm still technically dead, or at least, to the people in Lima I am."

Rachel studied Quinn while she worried her chapped bottom lip between her teeth. "Then we'll have to leave Lima," Rachel said slowly, gauging Quinn's reaction.

Quinn raised her eyes from hers and Rachel's hands to those then very familiar brown eyes. "You think I can get it all back? Start over?"

Rachel nodded her head with an overt look in her eyes. "I don't see why not. Whether you go to New York with me or somewhere else, you'll be able to start over there. Why are you balking at me like that, Quinn? Do you not agree?"

Quinn moved some of her hair behind her ear and smiled wider down at Rachel. "I agree with you, Rach. I'm just in awe over the fact that you died, were practically murdered by a demon basically, and are sitting here telling me about how I'm going to be okay now."

Rachel lifted the corner of her lips in a small grin before shrugging a shoulder. "I thought it was obvious that I was okay now," she said, pausing at the confused look on Quinn's face, "You're still with me, Quinn. You're here; actually here. After months of hell, we finally made it through. We met each other at the end."

As Rachel moved over a bit on her hospital bed and Quinn gingerly crawled in next to her and wrapped her arms around her, Quinn felt her. At the end of Quinn's fingertips was Rachel's hair, Rachel's arms, _Rachel_.

Rachel placed a kiss on Quinn's jaw. She reached up, ran the pad of her thumb over Quinn's lips, and marveled as she felt a smile form under her touch.

The significance of what happened to them was not lost on the girls as they laid together in Rachel's hospital bed six months and thirteen days after Rachel first heard Quinn's voice. It was an unspoken agreement amongst the group that no one outside of their circle would ever hear of the story of Quinn Fabray, the ghost, and Rachel Berry, the girl that returned her life to her. Rachel willingly gave Quinn a part of herself, her soul, that day on that road, just like Quinn had unknowingly given Rachel a part of her own on that very same road ten years before the girls ever knew of each other's existence.

However, if you'd ask them now, they'd say that they always knew the other existed. It was just a matter of waiting until the world wasn't watching them before they could find each other.

"We're all ghosts here," Quinn would say with Rachel's fingers laced through her own, "but the people we wait for, the ones some people wait forever for, are the only people that meet your eyes and don't see right through you."

Fin.


	11. Epilogue

Deus Ex Machina [god in the machine]

* * *

><p><strong>Epilogue<strong>

"Okay, Rachel, I finished ironing your gown and it's hanging up on the peg inside of your car," Hiram said briskly as the brunette in question tore down the stairs in front of him and into the kitchen.

"Thank you, Dad."

"And I packed some snacks and your other graduate essentials in your backpack and put that into the truck of your car," Leroy yelled from the doorway as he made his way back into the Berry house.

"Thanks, Daddy," Rachel impatiently called, now in the living room.

Hiram and Leroy met in the hallway and exchanged a look before peering into the room at their daughter, who had her feet planted firmly in front of the window.

"She'll be here, sweetie," Hiram assured his daughter while Leroy looked at his watch and shook his head.

Rachel was about to shoot Hiram a frustrated retort when she caught a flash of blond underneath a hood as a girl jogged up the street and up their walkway.

Rachel ran to the door, nearly knocking Hiram and Leroy over in the process, before flinging it open.

"You're late," Rachel chided.

"And you're impatient as ever," Quinn returned with a smile as she pulled off her hood and closed the door behind her. Being dead for ten years had its benefits, and Quinn had spent the past year using her "ghost training" - Puck's words, not hers - to blend into the Lima society without really being noticed. It had only proved to be a problem when she had to wear a sweatshirt and hood out in ninety-degree weather.

"Well?" Leroy asked as he and Hiram clasped hands behind Rachel, eagerly watching Quinn, "Tell us how we did as home-school teachers this past year."

Quinn met Rachel's eyes and couldn't help but smile back at the hopeful grin Rachel was shooting her. From out of her faded red hoodie pocket, Quinn produced a rolled up piece of paper. "You two must have done something right because they gave me this GED certificate for passing the test," Quinn said, her voicing rising near the end out of excitement.

The Berrys squealed simultaneously before engulfing Quinn in a group hug. "Congratulations" and "I'm so proud of you" were thrown around the group before Quinn quickly pulled away and pulled out her cell phone to check the time.

"Rachel -"

"I know," the brunette cut in. She ran into the kitchen and grabbed her keys before running back to the group at the door. "My turn to graduate," Rachel said, biting her lip nervously.

"We'll be there as soon as they open the doors to the public, honey," Hiram said.

"And you're sure you can't come?" Rachel asked, turning to face Quinn.

The blond smiled softly but shook her head. "We talked about this, Rach, it's too risky. There will be way too many people there and someone would definitely recognize me, _especially_ Puck's parents. I'll be here when you get back though, and hopefully I'll be all packed by then."

Rachel nodded reluctantly before plastering a nervous smile on her face and hugging both of her fathers. Quinn walked her to her car and grabbed her hand before she got in.

"You did it, babe. You're graduating."

"We _both_ did it, Quinn. We finally made it! I just have to get through this ceremony, and I know that you'll -"

"Be there in spirit," Quinn said in amusement, laughing as Rachel winced and shook her head.

The two shared a gentle look for a moment before Rachel reached forward and squeezed Quinn's hand.

That day marked a year and a half of them being together as a couple. The rest of Rachel's junior year and their senior year of high school had gone off without a hitch and without anything paranormal happening.

Rachel squeezed it again. "Just making sure," she whispered.

Quinn sucked in a breath and quickly reached forward, pulling Rachel into a tight hug before pulling back and swiftly capturing Rachel's lip with her own. As she pulled away, she softly bumped Rachel's nose and then placed a kiss against the brunette's bangs, her lips lingering and forming a smile.

"Then…. New York."

Rachel closed her eyes and stayed in Quinn's embrace for a moment more. "Then New York."


End file.
